Friday Thoughts 149
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts, where I share what’s been on my mind this week. Let’s get into it.
New High SCore
If I seem transcendent today, I just got this—perhaps all time high—sleep score. I keep teetering on whether or not I should give up the sleep tracking. It mostly drives me crazy, but then is all justified when this happens. I did try to dial it in this week, and honestly, it’s been responsive.
Summer Goals
I had three goals this summer. And now that summer is officially over, let’s reflect on them.
These were actually my Plan B goals. I had planned to spend the summer running—like I usually do. I just didn’t have the right combination of time, desire or passion to hit the trails with vigor this summer. I needed to pivot and these things helped guide me and give me something to strive for.
Zercher Squat 315
Inspired by Luke, I wanted to see what I could get with the old Zercher Squat. Throughout the summer, I did heavy reps, speed reps, built some volume, did Zercher squats within conditioning workouts. I really like the movement, the squat feels amazing with the bar loaded in the position. I did 315 back in August, a nice smooth single.
I don’t love squatting heavy. It’s a hard movement for me, and always has been. Since I wasn't concerned with running performance, I thought this was the perfect movement to train hard and heavy.
Deadlift 405 > .6 m/s
We got the OVR this summer, which is a device that measures the velocity of the barbell, or how fast it moves.
The general question was, can I get stronger by focusing on bar speed?
I wanted to use lighter weights to see if it would impact my speed at heavier weights.
The results on this one are inconclusive. I didn’t train the deadlift consistently enough in the month of August to squeeze enough out of this. I tested my bar speed at 405 last week and it was the same as my initial testing. Nonetheless, it got me in the gym, got me to deadlift and gave me something to tinker with and work on this summer.
attempt 1 - June
attempt 2 sept
L sit
I came out hot with L sit practice, and you guessed it, dropped off as summer winded down. L-sits are really challenging, but before this summer I could mange just a couple seconds. The goal was to train up to 10 seconds - very reasonable. My attempt is below, not quite there yet—but MUCH better than it was.
The practice, although brief, definitely paid off here.
Metric System Still Measures Time in 12’s
I’m a fan of the metic system, and can understand it. Thanks to running’s use of meters and Olympic weightlifting’s use of kilos I’m pretty fluent. These were some interesting points about 12’s though.
Nutrition Labels
Gatorade has always had electrolytes in it — but just not much. I agree, this is very confusing…
That’s it for today, see you in the gym!
—Justin Miner