Nancy

Workout 26 April 2009:

"Nancy"
Five rounds for time of:
400 meter run
Overhead squat, 15 reps, 62lbs

Results: 21'26
Previous best: 17'45, 60lb OHS (6 May 08)

I'm not happy with today's time since it was about 3.5 minutes slower than last time. The runs went reasonably well, but I struggled through the overhead squats. The first three rounds were especially slow and I had to break the 15 reps into several sets. I couldn't hold the bar in the proper vertical plane due to shoulder inflexibility which made the lifts much more difficult than usual. In the fourth and fifth round, I was able to bang out all 15 reps in one set. By that point, there was too much time to make up to come close to by previous best.

The biggest problem today was shoulder inflexibility. This has always been a hang up for me, but as a result of my back injury almost two months ago, I've done very few overhead lifts, meaning I was extra inflexible today. On top of my usual warm up, I did extra shoulder work that definitely helped, but couldn't quite bring me to where I needed to be for today's workout. By round four, I had "forced" my shoulders into the proper position and I was able to do the OHS from that point forward much more easily.

Mark Rippetoe Quote of the Day:
"Muscles don’t get leaner, you do."

K-Star on Overhead Squats:
"I know you can lay down in a machine and leg press an elephant, but can you overhead squat your own bodyweight? Fifty percent of your bodyweight? A lot of lip service is given to "core strength" these days with lots o' fancy balls and half balls out there. But, if you cannot maintain your midline stability, that is, keep your spine stable in a variety of functional positions, you don't have "core strength." The overhead squat is the king of core exercises, or queen if...you prefer. The difference between what you can front squat and what you can overhead squat is a direct measurement of your true core strength."