3-22-14 – Heavy Front Squats & Sore Abs

I was looking forward to this day for more than a week now. My body wasn’t feeling 100% for some time but now I’M BACK! Front squats was my poison today. I used the front squat harness because I am able to hold my position a lot better. When I hold the bar on my chest with my hands I never feel secure and I am struggling more on holding the bar than the actual squat. Using the front squat harness helps me worry about one less thing.

I warmed up really well and my body felt great. Foam rolling, softball rolling, and other mobility work helped me get into a good position in my squats. I had a good group of guys to train with and it helped out a lot. Throughout my sets I was focusing to inhale deeply and tighten my abs as hard as I could to stay in a stable position. The weight went up and felt pretty light until I reached 455lbs. From that point on the lifts were challenging so I had to stay focused. I worked up to 500lbs and during that set I felt my body slightly come forward. I fought to keep my chest up. As this was happening the harness was pulling on my shoulders very hard and caused some pain. I was able to get the weight up. I wanted to do a down set of 405 lbs but during my first rep I felt a lot of pain in my right shoulder so I decided to cut it short. After my squats I worked on some accessories. Each movement was geared towards making my main lifter strong(er). It felt great getting under a heavy bar again!

MAKE IT HAPPEN

Front Squats w/ harness
Warm Ups
3 x 5 - 45, 45, 135,
3 x 3 - 185, 225, 275
Working Sets
7 x 1 - 315, 365, 405, 425, 455, 475, 500
Downset 405 x 1 (cut short due to pain in shoulder)
Back Raise 3 x 10
Band Leg Curls 3 x 15 - orange
Leg Extensions on Reverse Hypers 3 x 15 - 90
Band Spread 4 x 20 - red band
Spread Eagle Sit Ups 4 x 10 - 25 lb plate on chest