3-19-19 – Strong(er) Squats

I felt pretty good coming in to the gym today. I always take my time warming up so not only did I make sure my hips and legs were warmed up but I also focused on stretching out my back and shoulders. Squats work a wide variety of muscles and having your back or shoulders cramp up during your sets can throw your focus off. In previous weeks I have been working on forcing my knees outward so that I dont strain or hurt them while squatting. This has paid off greatly because I now have a more solid base while squating which in turn gives me more power. My warm up sets went well, I always go pretty far below parallel on the first two warm ups to give my hips an extra stretch but it go back to just hitting below parallel on my last warm up to get my body use to the height I want to during my squats. My first working set was 215×5 without a belt, I have been trying to do as much as I can without the belt so I don’t rely on it to do all the lifting for me. The weight felt heavy but my form stayed solid and it came up without hesitation. I wore a belt for my next set which was 240×3, the belt helped out a lot in stabilizing my back and keeping me solid under the bar. I kept the belt on for my next set which was 270 for as many reps as I could do which ended up being 7. During that set I can remember thinking my 4th would be my last one but I focused on pushing my stomach into the belt which better utilizes the support offered from it and I was able push out a few more reps. I am very happy with the training session today, 7 reps was my goal and I have made good progress within the last 3 weeks. HAPPY TRAINING.