Montreal Barbell The PR GYM

Halloween - back to heavy squats after the push/pull last week which means two weeks since last squat and four weeks since last heavy squat, plus heavy shirted bench. The Sunday morning group is growing, today we had Joanick, Ghislain, Carmine (his first squat day with us), Shawna, me, Steve, Mike Guay (first day back with us since the June Bench Wars) and later Leo the Greek playboy.... Cheryl was in Miami will be back next week.

Needed a kick start to get going, tried some Jack3d, took one scoop last week and felt a mild awakening, this time took 2 scoops and was awake pretty quickly and warmed-up quicker and more ready to go.

Squat

Bar x reps - felt like a toothpick on my back

145 x about 10 - felt really light again,

235 x 6 - could have gone all day

325 x 4 or 5 = bar started to feel heavy on my back and shoulders, but weight was very easy

425 x 3 or 5, - I don't remember the Jack3d was not good for my memory.  - briefs on

505 x 3 - in briefs, forgot to put my suit on, so did it in briefs and deeper than ever

595 miss - in suit, Leo called my depth, I started out too slowly and took forever to get down and get the up call which was still a bit high, then on the way up, it seems like my right quad just gave out when I started up.

645 x 1 pretty good one, with knee wraps. The Jack3d was doing the talking here, load more weight, something I can get excited about, instead of trying the 595 again, Joanick cranked up TNT by six feet under and I attacked the weight, was very happy and done.

Bench

bar x reps focusing on driving with the legs

135 x reps explosively, focusing on leg drive

225 x 4 again explosive and driving with legs into the shoulders, felt great and light.

320 x 1 - a PR cause the boys played a trick on me and added 2.5's on each end. Went up well.

425 x 1 in shirt, nice and easy

500 miss, everything felt great, came down well, held my head down more and stalled on the way up, fought it for a long  time and got the work I wanted out of it, Done and happy.

It was great to see Mike come back and it was great having Carmine join us for the first time and forcing him into gear which he hated but said he is willing to push through and learn it. He said at the end that it's not like everyone thinks, "slap on some gear and lift 200 pounds more", its alot harder and a killer workout. Carmine has huge potential in gear, but it will take a while for him to see it.

I am very proud of Shawna. She is becoming so knowledgeable on form and training and she is lifting with more purpose and more determined than ever. Shawna squatted 325 lbs then had to leave early so she jumped right to 365 lbs and attacked it and held her form.

Everyone on the team is working hard, working together and it seems like we are all getting mentally stronger and more focussed. It seems as each lifter is getting stronger, the team gets stronger and as the team gets stronger, each lifter gets stronger!!

My goals for next week - work harder, deadlift 585 lbs, eat more, more protein shakes, sleep earlier, more volume of work this week and some accessory work - time to start pushing it some more. My next meet is the METAL MILITIA PRO/AM (UPA) in Lake George, NY Dec 11.