Back Squats 5×5

Posted on Feb 05, 2007 - 10:17pm by MarkFu in Training Log

Monday night is the busiest night in the gym so I had to secure one of the two racks in the corner. Not only did I get a rack to do my modest back squat workout next to a couple of heavy hitter lifters, one of who said he is ranked 4th pro in the country in strong man competitions, He was back squatting 495 lbs, which he said is 85% of his 1RM. I watched their technique and they were spot on and went ass to ankles on all squats. An interesting variation was a 3 second count as they would hold in the bottom of the squat which they said takes the bounce momentum out of the movement. Coming out of the bottom of the squat without the bounce make the squat more difficult and requires more strength and power the rise out of it. Pretty impressive. They also mention they change out their workout frequently doing Olympic lifts and the progressions. Very diligent about their sport and kept equally diligent records of all their workouts. So much of what they are doing is similar to what we do in Crossfit. Fun to watch these guys.

My lift were much more modest. For the back squats, 5 reps each, I did 145/175/195/205/225. 225 lbs is a new 5RM. So as not to appear a slacker, I did a 5×5 bench press workout. I have not been doing these much since I had that shoulder injury so I wanted to see what kind of progress I had made. I noticed definite improvements in my strength and ROM. Here is the stats on those sets:

145/155/185/205/210. I will consider the 210 as my baseline 5RM.

I finished with some "grease the groove" pull-ups which are still lagging since the aforementioned injury.

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One Response

brent

February 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
1

Nice run on the squats. Those are nice numbers, esp the 225 x 5. Last week I think I got to 185 for a 7 rep set and realized that was all I really had in the tank. That was humbling.

For some reason, I always think my squat strength is better than it actually is, right up to the point that I put that bar on my back. I guess it’s time I start documenting my lifting, like you and your squatting buddies from yesterday. Time to start paying attention, I guess.

As for those guys next to you, that would have been fascinating to see those guys do their thing. It is always interesting to me to see the real hard core guys doing their thing, as much for motivation as for gleaning knowledge from their expertise and their routine.

Great news on your back and shoulder ROM. Looks like you are coming back to full strength.