Eighth OLAP, Squats, Shoes & CF Open 12-4

Last Thursday was supposed to be bench pressing and deadlifting, but with angry hamstrings I skipped deadlifting entirely and benched:

6 x 4 x 205

Today I felt relatively good for being almost halfway through my cycle, and I undertook the scheduled heavy squat day.

5 x 45
5 x 135
8 x 170
6 x 210
5 x 250
4 x 285
3 x 325
3 x 345
3 x 345
5 x 305
6 x 235

This was not exactly fun, but I was happy with the session.  I took the first 345 triple with no belt which seemed fine, but having proved to myself I could do that I put the belt on for the second triple.

My last cycle I felt like I had entirely forgotten how to squat, and I eventually solved the problem by using Olympic lifting shoes.  I suspect strongly, however, that lifting shoes are not the real answer for back squatting, and I've been splitting time this cycle between the O-shoes and the Converse Chucks.  I did everything in Converse today, and it felt like it used to before I forgot how to squat.

New Chucks, I assure you, are a joy to squat and pull in; they're hard, stable, flat, and low to the ground.  As far as I can remember, mine are not new.  I think they date back to the July USAPL state meet.  They're low to the ground, and they're hard,, but they're neither stable nor flat.  I don't think Converse would claim them anymore.  They've become something else entirely.

Perhaps Fuckboks.

By mid-April I'll have to replace my Fuckboks with new Converse to squat in my competition 1rm range.

I've saved some but not all of my old Fuckboks since I started lifting seriously, because when I squat 200 kilos, I want to take a photo of all the Fuckboks I trained in next to the new Converse I squatted in.

And what I believe as I near what I hope to be the end of a multi-year journey is that the important part is making new shoes old.

I think it's delusional to believe that new Fuckboks are more important than wearing out multiple pairs of Converse in the quest for Awesome.

And that's fine because I don't sell shoes.



Immediately after squatting I tried CrossFit Open WoD 12-4:
AMRAP 12
150 Wall Ball Shots
90 Double Unders
30 Muscle Ups

I was not thrilled about this because my best time ever for 150 wall balls is just under ten minutes, and not only was I better conditioned then, I was pain free.  Nonetheless, I thought it would be weak not to complete the wall balls, so I told my accountability partner I would do one double under for her.

I thought pacing was key here, so I started with what felt like a moderate pace to me and quickly down-shifted to low.

I finished the wall balls - I think because I try not to obsess over the clock on these work outs - in just over 11 minutes.  I did the double under for AP, and fourteen more followed.

Total reps: 165