01 Apr Brian Carroll | Week 3 of 6 | RPS US Open Training | Squat/DL ass

Once again – I’m super proud of the team I have put together and how they handled themselves in Ohio both on the platform, off it and in general all weekend. They were a HUGE help to me and I am really grateful.

[wa-wps]

I just finished competing in the XPC Arnold Finals where I didn’t have a great showing and missed a few lifts. This left me in Second place overall.

I’ll be going head to head for 5K against Jimmie P, Tory P and Hopefully Matt M. Not sure if he can make it though.

So, I finished up my deload work and started to crank up a little bit on my assistance day. Feeling tons better and so glad I got the rest that I did.

The idea behind this day was to knock some rust off before taking some weights on Saturday.

Normal warm-up McGill Big 3

Barbell row: 5×5
DOH shrug: 5×5
DB shrug: 3×10
Pistons squat: 5×5
Leg press: 3×10
One Leg GM SS Bulgarian: 3×10

As you can see, this one was lower body focused. I tend to let my legs get pretty flat at times and this is something I have to be mindful of as I’m in the middle of a training cycle. Being that I have to work to keep my weight down, it sometimes impacts my leg fullness and mass, so the key for me is doing enough direct quad work to make sure that I keep them pumped up and full.

Here’s my plan going forward —

Saturday 4/2 –
Squats
800
900
950
1000 – RB or so – maybe a touch heavier

I need to sit back and be more aggressive on my squats. Overall more aggressive. I will be aggressive. I don’t need to go super heavy, i’ll do heavier the following week.

Deads
6″ block pull in the 700’s – RAWWWW (very good for my grip and the ‘snap’ on my dead)
form pulls with 5-600lb – full gear

Monday 4/4 –
Lots of set-up and shirted work in the 700 range. I have a few things to work on. I need to bench much better than at the Arnold.

Lots of triceps work too.

The point is I don’t need a lot of ‘strength training’ I need some tweaks in form and to reboot for a week or 2 and I’ll be ready. I’m due.

All this makes me very motivated. Something I’ve needed.