Today was more what I have been looking for.  I know it is only 25 reps total but I felt the power.  I know it was only 55% but I felt the speed.  To gain in my squat you have to feel heavy weight but to gain the power and speed is the greatest.  No one moves weight without the power or without movement.  The last few blog posts I have talked about the next step.  What is the next step.  For me it is writing the plan for the future to continue on the incredible journey Squatober has been and given for me.  Over the last week I have been trying to perfect the start of the next week.  I have changed it many times. Actually I am ready  for it to be here so I just do it.   Like my wife says sometimes I over think to much and try to perfect something that is just fine.  Other than that my lifts today went good strong and fast!  Hope your workout was good today as well!

Today shows what I expected.  The max day started good and kept going until I hit my max of 370.  I think I wore out a bit either physically or mentally I am not 100% sure.  My guess is a bit of both.  My form was starting to slip so I decided to hang it up.   This gives me a good start to keep me working through out the next few months.  I think my peak was suffering a bit because of my lack of lifting previous to this month.   I felt better the day I did my repetitions at 315 than I did today at max time.  I am happy with my max but also I feel that I need to work on my speed and power a bit before adding more weight.  So for that I am more happy.  This has been a great experience and I know it has made me fall back in love with what I loved for so many years.  I find myself watching the clock until I get to do my lifts.  Not only that but I am reading more than normal and starting to indulge myself into more and more knowledge each day to benefit my next step!  What a great way to feel.  I hope that everyone has the opportunity to feel that way at least once in life and excited for others that may have never lost that feeling.

Today was another easy day that has been preparing me for the MAX squat day tomorrow.  I am looking forward to testing myself.  The past couple of weeks seem to have been preparing quite a bit for a max.  Week 3 my max was raised by a little bit based on repetition.  Beginning squatober was the start for me.  There was about 2 consistent months in the last 10 years that lifting was a priority for me.  Squatober changed that for me.  Gaining strength this month is a definite check off the list.  Gaining endurance.  Check!  But I think I have not been able to push myself the last couple weeks. I believe most people doing squatober have been on some kind of program before starting this month.  For me I think I am still needing training to continue my gains more than a peaking period.   I will try and get some sleep and eat good to be ready for tomorrow.  

Off for the weekend getting ready for the following week and again busy with family this weekend so I'll be back on Monday with a better post!

Like I had mentioned yesterday it has been a very tough week and today wasn't either.  I worked on my speed for pushing to help myself get a little sore and since it wanted non stop reps.   It went really fast.  I have a really busy weekend with some family things that have happened this month and last week so I am sorry once again for the brief post.  Looking forward to next week but also getting excited for starting to write my own plans to be ready for Friday!  

What else can a say today was a heavy 90%  and felt good!   Another day to test myself out. This week has been progressively getting heavier but has not been pushing me hard throughout the week.  I know there is a max next week and I am sure it is preparing for that.  I still am enjoying the squats and have been looking into planning my upcoming workouts since next Thursday is my last day!   Today is Halloween so I have to hurry since my son will be wanting to trick or treat!

The new term for the month is "Bending the Knee".    It has been used a lot in the list of workouts and hashtags that have tagged the instagram page.  Thinking about the slogan "bend the knee"  it started to make me think in more than one dimension of the term.   Of course when you squat you do bend at your knees.  Some call it the "King" of All Exercise.   I have started to believe in both and ironically you would bend the knee to either.  Bending a knee while squat and to the King of Exercise.  With this month coming to an end, even though I am finishing out next week still with squatober,  makes me think of what it has done for me.  I would say overall I have lost weight although gained weight.  Another thing I have noticed is I have gained strength and size in my legs.  Not limited to that I have gained strength and size all over.  My stomach has also gotten very strong and I have not performed one crunch, sit up or any exercise that focus purely on my abs.  Engaging my core everyday in my squat has made that possible.   If someone were to ask me that they want to completely change their bodies I would tell them to squat.  I don't think that means putting a bunch of weight on a bar.  Sometimes just squating into a chair without using your arms or at least limit the amount of your arms used.   Also body squats could also help.  Use a wall or a table to help hold yourself steady if you need.  There are many variations to help build yourself up.  If you have a question I can try my best to help you out just let me know!  

Another day another squat.  In a good way though.   It is something I look forward to everyday.  And to be honest the prewritten workout has really helped keep me striving for more.  To keep motivated the next month I will write a week of workouts for myself before starting the week.  This should push myself throughout the week rather than writing the day of or even impromptu lifting.  All day''s/week's surely can get busy and tiresome.  If I am not prewriting the workout then it's probable my week schedule and mind determine my training.   A little tired maybe I would do less than normal.   If something comes up unplanned it could make me cut my workout short.   Have you experienced this?  Maybe not.  But to plan a week ahead maybe 2 weeks could help me in the future.  Also to put a goal in mind for the month.  For Squatober it is Squats.  And the exciting news I heard about over the weekend is that there is a Deadcember! What?!  I am going to participate in this workout as well.  Think about it Aaron Asmus is the head strength coach for The University of Southern California and his squatober workout plan is FREE!  He also writes the Deadcember plan.  2 month workout plan with a total of 44 workouts free!  That is crazy to think about.  So of course I am going to take the challenge to try and better myself as well as improving my knowledge through a professional strength trainer.   Anyone wanting to join?

Aaron Asmus vs Eddie Hall. Adding a bit to yesterday's workout.  I noticed a lot of times that anytime a back/bicep/tricep exercises  the rep amount was always 10-15 and the dumbells always 20-30 reps.   I watched a video of World's Strongest Man and multiple world record holder Eddie Hall.  During a deadlift session with a full back workout he did a lot of explaining on how the proper lift should be done and how to fully achieve breaking down the many small muscle that make up the large conglomerate of muscles in the back.  He said he works his tricep and biceps the same.  To tear down each muscle and to maximize the fatigue he does a minimum of 10-12 reps.   This way it completely tears down the muscle to rebuild and make them stronger.   But while doing this to also be extremely explosive.   He said to be explosive because he was also maxing most machines out completely but still a good tip for anyone that can't max a machine out.   The high reps like in todays superset of rear lateral raises/hammer curls/and shrugs made complete sense.  And to tear down each muscle is better than to tire out on one and not finish the others in my opinion.  I am glad to learn something new every day!

(204.2) Starting today off with a new goal.  360!  I will take that.  Really hoped to get 9 reps looking back but of course that makes today a bit easier than if my max changed to 385.  Still would have been nice though.  Today the workout went well.  I did a bunch of moving equipment around the facility today and reorganized the weights and things so it took a little bit of my energy.   It still didn't affect my squats.  I felt really good and felt I was able to get deep in the squat! I was lucky though because I forgot to bring my change of clothes but my Fjallraven hiking pants are extremely flexible and still look professional enough for work.  Can't wait to work through the remainder of the month and finish out strong.  Don't forget I will be doing an extra week since I had a choppy week during the third week.

Sore not so much.  Not either day.  Although I do have soreness in certain areas of my legs.  But not the soreness you get after leg day.  That is something that has changed a lot for me over the last couple of weeks.  My legs have gotten stronger and have grow in size and I feel that I am challenging myself everyday.  I would compare my soreness to be more similar to when I do an upper body workout.   It seems that even for someone like myself who tries to implement lower body often that I must be doing way more upper body and forgetting my lower half more than I ought to.  I have been thinking a lot about what do I do once Squatober is over?  I know I want to keep with my progress but what next?  And while I have been thinking about it over the weekend and decided to try and keep lifting legs often maybe 3 times a week and at least twice.  So this will be my next challenge through November.  Have you put any monthly goals for yourself?