BAM

well, i did it.

3x5x300 in the squat. i still had some left in me so i pulled off a double with 315. the double was even pretty good depth, though i could have done better. i will do better.

i've been making above-average progress lately. i attribute it to two main factors:

1) rest. i've really been working on this for a change. quality rest most nights of the week, not doing too many sets, not doing too much crap on my off days. true, 2 days ago i did a 12 mile hike follewed the next day by an hour and a half of orienteering. the point is that i know now that i can do that and still make progress in weights. i lift twice a week: monday and thursday. sometimes i run about 3 miles on tuesday. always i hike on saturday. the rest is rest.

2) focusing on my strength. i've got strong legs. that's been known to me forever. instead of struggling with bench pressing (my weakness), this cycle i've been focusing on improving my squat. furthermore, i do better in the low-rep range. so instead of trying to progress with 8 or 10 or 12 reps, i kept it to five. and it worked. by focusing on my strengths (and not neglecting my weaknesses, to be sure) i blew away my previous personal bests (squat of 1x280).

i was going to hit the 300 mark on thursday but i got impatient and i was full of energy today. so i went and did it. i was going to reward myself for reaching my goal by switching to deadlifts, but now i think i'll keep on squatting. i'm taking off for thanksgiving and won't be lifting over the break. i'll use the rest of my workouts to get to or past competition depth.

yeah.