A Day of Firsts at the Gym!
Interesting workout today! The gym has a new power rack, first time it had one, and I used it for the first time on squats. I was planning to go heavy today and the rack gave my confidence an extra boost since I knew I could bail out if it didn’t go well. I worked my way up to 315, feeling good, and did one squat to parallel at that weight with little trouble. That equalled my personal best from a couple of years ago. I had given up going really heavy on squats, choosing to go as deep as possible for high reps. My legs have come along great this last year and I was curious to see how much weight I could lift. After comfortably doing 315 I put on another 10 and successfully did 325! Felt great and I know I can do more if I keep working at it.
Another first today - tried some barbell sumo deadlifts. Did 3 sets of 10 at low weight to get the hang of them. Also did some seated calf raises on the smith machine, a new calf exercise for me. I’d never did them before, it just seemed like a lot of setup time. I did 3 supersets, starting with standing barbell calf raise followed by the seated calf raise. I had a great burn going after those sets!
Between squat sets I did some dumbell exercises to strengthen my rototor cuffs. I found them on bodybuilding.com. They are simple to do and low weights are used. I had problems with my rotator cuffs off and on for a long time, but since I started doing some of these exercises the problems have gone away and I am feeling stronger than ever. A stronger rotator cuff will not only help prevent injury, it will help your bench press and other chest and shoulder exercises. It’s worked for me, give it a try!
