Week 6 - Modified Madcow

Monday

• Squat: 360 lbs x 5
• Close-Grip Bench Press: 240 lbs x 5
• Barbell Rows: 205 lbs x 5
• Drop Jumps (off 22 inch box): 5 x 5

My foot felt pretty good so I restarted plyometric exercises. No pain before, during, or after the jumps. My foot injury ended up being plantar fasciitis. Usually, plantar fasciitis has a more gradual onset, but all of the other signs were there. I should be able to push forward with more aggressive jump training in the next 1-2 weeks.

Wednesday

• Squat: 270 lbs x 5 x 2 sets
• Overhead Press: 160 lbs x 5
• Deadlift: 335 lbs x 5

My back has been bothering me a little bit starting the end of last week. I'll try to really focus on keeping my back in rigid extension while squatting. I tried stair jumps but my left foot started hurting on the 4th jump. I quit jumping at that point.

Friday

•  Squat: 370 lbs x 3 reps
• Close-grip Bench Press: 245 lbs x 5
• Power Clean: 195 lbs x 5

 My back is now really starting to bother me: It's tight but not really painful. I am going to deload starting this next week. Part of me wants to push through this thinking that I can avoid injury by just concentrating more on proper form. The other, more rational part of me knows that I will just injury myself if I stay on this course. The good news is that I'm back to my 5-rep PR on the squat (I know that I can get 370 pounds with 5 reps right now). I'll stick with the weights I'm using on the other exercises with deloads in the near future.

With my squat deload, I'm going to drop the weight by quite a bit so that I can really work on explosiveness and form.

C