strength program week 12: squats

Yesterday I started my final week of the strength program, which involves retesting my 1 rep max for all 3 lifts. Due to traveling next week, I had to move things forward and around a bit. Yesterday I went for my 1 rep max on squat.

The gym was fairly empty and I was feeling pretty good. No crazy soreness, had a rest day on Friday, plenty of creatine and 1 pop tart sitting next to me, ready to go. I took my usual 15 pound jumps between attempts all the way to 175. From there I alternated between 10 and 5 pounds. I hit my previous max with no issue--the first time I've squatted that much since the meet in April.

I forced myself to take longer rests as the numbers went up into unfamiliar territory. This was hard to do because I was getting excited. I wanted to hurry up and get a new number. At 205 I peeled my armband off and removed the headphones. It was an unnecessary distraction. I gave my quads a hard slap, breathed hard into the belt, and went for it.

I ended the lift session at 220, 15 pounds over my all time max on squat. Stoked is too small of a word--I couldn't believe it. I am 5 pounds shy of two 45 plates on either side of the bar. I'm sitting higher than I thought I would at this point--Meg's program works, and it was such a worthy investment. I'm really, really impressed and excited about how yesterday went.

Overall, the squat layout for this program was fairly brutal, but doable. I think incorporating the high bar back squats helped me lock in my form--I really learned how to keep the upper back tight and keep the chest up throughout the entire motion. I did miss doing front squats, and I'm thinking I might write those in for myself over the next 12 weeks. I'm going to do another run of Meg's program, but push the numbers up to match my current level of strength.

I never, ever thought I would be at 220 right now. I was at 205 in April, and felt elated to simply be just over 200 lbs. That was a goal for quite some time. My warmup is solid, my form is exquisite--I'm really, really proud of myself. I've put in the work every week for 12 weeks. Powerlifting is a special kind of amazing--I've been doing this for over 2 years now and I still find room to learn something this far in.

More soon. I think I'm retesting my one rep max on bench today. Soccer tomorrow, deadlift probably Tuesday.