Monday 22.12: Squats, Push press

Monday. Back squat emom x 8min: 1 back squat @ 125kg. Strength, front squat 5x7 (107.5kg). Push press, 8x3 (70-75kg).

I thought about programming for a second and threw an idea in the air of dividing strength days and metcon days apart from each other. So I would play with the barbell for strength on one day and do only metcons on another day. Tried it for one day and decided to get back old school. I was bored to death for doing only strength =)

Barbell.

• Every minute on the minute, for 8min: 1 back squat @ 125kg
• Front squat 5x7 (107.5kg)
• Push press 3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3 (70, 70, 70, 70, 75, 75, 75, 75kg)

I've concentrated a lot on front squats lately so it was about time to put the bar on back rack and do some work. Ended up doing this emom style of semi-heavy singles at 125 kilos. It was kind of weird as I didn't remember how it feels like to have a big load of iron on my back. The bar felt heavy already at 110k as I was climbing up to my working weight. But once I went down and up it was much easier. It was just an awkward feeling because it's been long since heavy back squatting.

This was 8x1 every minute style. The heavy was something I had to work for but totally under control all the way. It fatigued my legs a bit regarding the upcoming front squat 7's. But anyway, it was great to do back squats after a while.

Originally my plan was to just hit front squats for 5 sets of 7 reps at 107.5kg which is 10kg more than last time when I did 7's. Man these were tough sets. First reps were "easy" but very soon it came clear I gotta focus good to get the work done. After all, I had no doubt of hitting the sets but still, they were challenging.

I was about done after these but there stood couple of sets push press in my phone's calendar so I reloaded the barbell and started climbing up from 40kg shoulder press. Took 50-60kg push presses too to get shoulders properly warmed up. I'm not used to drop weight on my back when the loads go over 60kg. Today I dropped each set and they felt great. It's good to know how the barbell path goes and how you got to react and smoothen the impact when you drop the bar.

I completed all of these sets touch and go style meaning I didn't rest the barbell at any point of these triples. Just bounced it back up right away. Loads were manageable all the time. Last 2 sets were heavy'ish, well maybe not the first rep but the last 2 of them.

This was a good test of lots of barbell work but I consider it more meaningful to do metcons primarily.