NROL, Strength III, workout 4C

Only one more lift to go!!!! Two more days to go!!!

Today I noticed that there’s almost a completely different group of people who lift at my gym when I do. Don’t people stick to a plan? There’s one guy who I’ve seen almost every single day for almost a year now. We’ve never spoken one word to each other. That’s a little weird. Other then him, though, it seems the 2008 crop has settled in to my schedule. There are a lot more people then last year and I’m not too big of a fan of this development. Luckily none of them ever use the squat rack either so it looks like I’m gonna be fine.

Today was deadlift day and I kept anticipating back pain. It never came (during the deadlift anyway). I’m pretty happy with this lift for the most part because I managed to build back up to 225 on my final lift.

Here are the stats.

Deadlift – 3×195, 2×205, 1×215, 3×205, 2×215, 1×225

(I had a goal today of doing 225 for my last lift. This required me to go up a little higher in the weights then normal but I did it. Every time I grabbed the bar I held my breath and waited for the back pain to come when I started lifting. It never did. I’m really happy. I spent virtually every second of rest going over my form in my head. Head up, chest back, drive from the heels – that kind of stuff. Maybe my form is getting better. )

Rack deadlift – 2×315, 2×315, 2×315

(This is stupid. Last week I was doing 275. Now I’m using three plates? There’s nothing I can do though. I set the safety bar as low as I can go. If I go one notch lower I won’t be able to even lift 225. I can’t get my legs into it. At this height, I’m basically lifting it about a foot.)

Snatch grip deadlift off box – 6×165, 12×135

(I stayed with the same numbers as last time because, again, I was anticipating the back pain which never came. These are still tough but I probably should have gone up.)

Zercher good morning – 4×100, 4×100

(Here was where the back pain showed up. I stupidly continued to do them even though they hurt. The funny thing is that I didn’t even think about these hurting until they actually did.)

Hanging leg raise – 4xBW, 4xBW, 4xBW, 4xBW

(My improvement here over the past month has been pretty dramatic. I can hang for a good bit longer then when I started and this is enabling me to pull my knees a lot higher.)