Screw Texas, Go Boston: week 3, intensity

Warm-up:
20 burpees
back squat to 225

3x1 back squat (245, 255[f], 255)
3x1 shoulder press (95, 110, 115)

Cool-down:
2 rounds of:
1x2 frenchies
9 burpees

1 burpee for good measure (100 days of burpees 39)

Took Brian's advice and focused on getting the elbows back and up for the low-bar squat, it helped to create a shelf with the delts and makes the low-bar position much more comfortable. This pushed the bar further back, though, and it took me a little while to adjust to the new mechanics. Squats felt pretty good, even with a relatively large bump in load, but I can feel the added work in the lower back. For me, the low-bar squat is slower through the eccentric phase, and I find I need to really focus on holding the core tight throughout - the failed rep @ 255 happened when I momentarily lost this tightness and the weight just dropped me like a rock.

Shoulder presses felt good, especially at the lighter weights - combination of bench press work and transfer from the increasing burpee loads. Mistakenly started lighter than I should have (see last week) but upped the weight. 115 is probably close to my 1R max right now, almost stalled completely on the last rep (it's amazing the shade of red your face can turn).

Can't neglect to mention the thrilling Sox comeback victory last night, for which I stayed up way too late and drank too much - went from wine (hopeful optimism) to grappa (resignation and disappointment) to more grappa (joyous disbelief). Facing elimination and down 7-0 in the 7th with 2 outs, they rallied behind an RBI single by little Dustin Pedroia (all 5'9" 180 lbs of him) and a monster 3 run HR by David Ortiz. With injuries, spotty starting pitching, and a lack of consistent hitting, they may not beat the Rays, but last night they were intent on not going down without a fight...