5-4-14 – Front Squats & Face Slaps

Today was my first training session back since I returned from LTT8. I was fired up after leaving Ohio and was ready to take my training to a different level. I was educated on how to optimize my training and I wanted to take advatnage of the lessons I learned from the best strength coaches in the industry.

I wanted to work on my weaknesses and focus on things I wasn’t good at. HELLO FRONT SQUAT!!! I have had trouble performing this movement in the past, mostly because it is something I don’t do on a regular basis. I can use components of this lift to strengthen my straight bar squat.

The entire session I found it hard to get my body in the right position. Having the weight in front of my body instead of on my back forced me to maintain an upright body position. I focused on not only keeping my stomach pressed hard against my belt but squeezing my upper back. This really helped as the weight got heavier.

On my last heavy set of the day, I was just not in the right frame of mind. My usual, confident mindset was being trespassed by some negative thoughts and fear. I thought to myself that if we don’t do things that scare you then you will not grow as a person. I had to face my fear and get it done. I slapped myself in the face, cursed myself out, and got my mind set. I never have to force myself to get under the bar and I wasn’t going to let this weight defeat me. I got in the rack, got set, and unracked the weight. There was no turning back. I took a deep breath, tightened my body and brought the weight down. Coming up was a challenge and wasn’t pretty, but I got it up! A NEW PR! After looking at the bar, it was mis-loaded. I had a 2.5 lb PR instead of a 5 lb PR. Oh well. I’ll take it! I planned on doing 8 reps of 405 for my downset but I was drained from my last set and only completed one rep.

I completed the necessary accessories to get my squat strong(er) and pushed it really hard. I had a great training partner, Aaron Starkey to help push me when things were getting hard. I am looking forward to seeing the progress as time goes on!

MAKE IT HAPPEN