Tuesday October 7, 2008 - Max Day

Today was Max day on Strict Press and Deadlift. It reminded me of my powerlifting days because we only got 3 attempts. My deadlift is not ready for a max effort and I want to rest my legs for my race Saturday so I just did shoulder press.

I set my PR back on September 9, 2008 by pressing 175#. My goal today was 190#. I was working with Chriss and Harold and warmed up with five reps of 95# and 3-4 reps of 135#. I wasn't sure where to start my first attempt at so I talked with Jerry. Strategy is you want to go for a PR but you want to get a good attempt and usually you are not able to go down once you attempt a weight. Jerry didn't care but I did not want to drop weight anyway. I thought about doing 170 -180 and then 190 but Jerry said that was a big jump and you really only have one good rep. I decided to start with 170 and then go for 180 a new PR and then 185 if I got 180. I got 170 very smoothly. I put 180 on the bar and Jerry told us we could have our partners rack the weight up rather than cleaning it from the ground. I said sure why waste the effort and had Harold and Chriss rack it. I took the weight and could not get it past that point where I could use the momentum to lock it out. I thought maybe it was because I didn't clean it from the ground and the confidence I have from cleaning that weight. So for my third and final attempt stuck with 180 and attempted it from the ground. I sort of struggled for a second on the clean and caught it and then regained my focus and went for the final attempt. I failed. Chriss said I was so close. I was happy that I did not compromise my form and kept my feet anchored and my core tight. I am a little bit bummed but know I can get it next time. Just one of those days.