Mr.CaffeineHead

Theoden Awakens This is the best title for this post I could come up with. It's been close to a year since I last posted. Posting again feels like I've awoken from the dead. https://tenor.com/view/lord-of-the-rings-the-oden-lotr-stare-old-gif-16247877 So, what happened during all that time? Well, my gym had an electrical fire that sparked a massive capital improvements project for the entire gym. What was supposed to have been a couple weeks ended being close to seven months before the gym re-opened. I got a message about once a month, indicating that they would re-open on this date...and then said date would pass and they would say now it would be this date. In all honesty, I'm glad they were able to fix the dilapidated infrastructure . But, needless to say, 2021 was a year of lifting that was essentially lost. After way too much patience and pre-occupation with work and other things, I decided to switch gyms and pick one that's closer to where I live now. I started getting back into lifting and swimming in October, and I'm slowly building my strength back up. Not gonna lie; it's not fun having to re-start over with what would have been very lightweight a year or so ago. But, I've decided to approach this activity called strength training with a long-term focus where I'll take longevity over fast accomplishments any day of the week. So, as Ronnie Coleman says: https://tenor.com/view/light-weight-gif-21674454 Because of the lower back issue I experienced last year, I'm taking a pretty cautious approach to my exercise selections for the time being. These are the exercises I'm currently progressing on right now: Front squat--as the primary squat Box squat--as the secondary squat For pressing movements: Military Press Wide Military Press Behind-the-neck (BTN) press Klokov press I'm switching the presses out about every 3 weeks or so For rowing movements: Pendlay Row Close-grip Pendlay Row Reverse-grip Pendlay Row Reverse close-grip Pendlay Row Like the presses, these are getting switched out every couple of weeks For deadlifts Sumo Romanian Deadlift For cleans Hang Clean Power Clean Likely will be switched out in a similar manner to the rows and presses For supplemental lower body work Hip thrusters on the machine One of my weak points that I believe likely contributed to my injury as well as just having an all-around tight lower body are my hip flexors. Just doing hip thrusters alone--they were definitely not happy with the "torment" I was subjecting them to. But...they feel quite good at the end of the workout. Hopefully they'll get stronger over the course of this year. For the sets/reps protocol, I'm basically doing the following: Squats & Cleans: 4:X (where X is a number between 1 & 4 (using a dice to determine the number)) So basically, on the front squat, an upcoming workout would look like this: If dealt 1: 4 x 1 @ 195 lbs If dealt 2: 4 x 2 @ 185 lbs If dealt 3: 4 x 3 @ 175 lbs If dealt 4: 4 x 4 @ 165 lbs Presses, Rows, & Hip Thrusters: 4:X (where X is a number between 1 & 14 (using a deck of cards to determine the number to do for each set)) Same idea as the above protocol; I break out the ranges and assign a weight at each range. So something like: 1-5: 95 lbs 6-9: 90 lbs 10-14: 85 lbs Deadlifts: X:5 (where X is a number between 1 & 6 (using a dice to determine the number)) I'm typically using one weight for this. So, if I'm "lucky" one night it may only be 1 x 5...or conversely, it could be 6 x 5 Progression is +10 lbs on lower body each workout and +5 lbs on upper body and cleans. This is what I would call the "re-conditioning" period where I'm not on a serious program schedule and I'm just trying to increase the weight each workout. Because the reps & sets are all over the place, my body is having to work across the entire spectrum. I've found this approach to be very effective at regaining strength after a long hiatus. So, in a nutshell, play-time/relax time is over. Time to get back at it! On a side note...I hope those GIFs post successfully...

Brokenlifting 3 Mar 21 Since the last post, progress has been made. It feels like my upper body is starting to adapt to the workload as this week hasn't felt like a grind compared to the previous week. The Z-Press (arguably the toughest of the three upper body exercises) has felt solid the past few workouts, and putting up 95 lbs on multiple sets felt relatively smooth. Overall, I'm pretty content so far. My back isn't bothering me much at all anymore, however, there are certain movements that I can tell aggravate it. So, I'm still gonna stay off the squatting for a few more weeks. I have contemplated starting overhead squats as the primary movement when I do resume. I would likely start with very light weight, and that might be a good exercise to do while I continue to evaluate the recovery. Overall, that's the basic up-to-date info. It's not been a bad week so far.

Brokenlifting: Week 2 Week 2 of this brokenlifting routine started off w/ a hard pump on literally every exercise. My muscles definitely got smoked on all sets. The Z Press was the most challenging of the 3. Looking back over time, I've changed my form on the Z Press. This photo shows my old form of doing the Z Press: The difference between the form in this photo and my current form is that I'm taking a much wider grip (close to the rings on the bar). And it's definitely working my shoulders and back a lot more. I'm trying to limit my tricep usage on the overhead press movement since the JM Press is hitting the triceps. Overall, I am starting to like the wider grip despite the challenging nature of the movement at that width. After doing the upper body stuff, I did a set of 5 on the floor clean and attempted to do the floor snatch after that. The floor snatch had the same set up as the floor clean (legs straight out and snatching the weight off the floor). However, just doing 50 lbs was not an easy feat since it required a good amount of coordination and speed to execute smoothly. But, I did like the movement and will add it into the "finish up" routine. With regards to my injury, I haven't felt stiff or sore too much compared to last week and even movements such as putting socks on aren't proving to be as challenging as they've been the past few weeks. I really want to get back into squatting....but I'm restraining myself. That'll do it for this Monday's routine.

The Beginning of "Brokenlifting" 20 Feb 21 I've given a lot of thought to my future, and for as much as I'd like to squat 500+ lbs beyond 40 yrs old, the reality is....that may not happen if I end up breaking down beforehand. I can deal with the aches and stiffness, but if I end up being put on the orthopedic surgeon's "line-up card", that's not a position I'd like to be in. So, I'm going to play the long-ball game, where I'll focus on a new style of lifting during the periods where I'm practically out of commission on the usual lifts: See, there's lifting styles such as powerlifting and Olympic lifting. But...there really isn't any type of lifting specifically for injured people. So, I figure, why not just start a style of lifting specifically for the "brokens" such as myself? These are the lifts that could make up my "brokenlifting" routine: - Kneeling Squat - Floor Press - Kneeling Deadlift - Floor Clean - Floor Snatch For now, I'm primarily focusing my attention on the Floor Press, but as my lower back continues to heal, I'll likely start doing the kneeling squat and deadlift. Don't get me wrong, I plan to get back into regular squatting, bench pressing, and deadlifting. But, while I'm dealing w/ the back issues, I might as well find another style to work with for the time being. Regarding this week's progress, I actually had a good week doing the floor presses (Floor Press, Floor JM Press, and Z-Press) and didn't aggravate my back on any of the movements. This is my routine breakdown: - Monday (all exercises): 4 x A (where A is either 11 or 14) - Wednesday (all exercises): 3 x A (where A is either 4 or 8 ) - Friday (all exercises): 12 x 2 OR 2 x 12 I also tried out the Floor Clean (it's basically just sitting on the floor, legs straight out, and cleaning the bar up like any other clean), and plan to incorporate this on Wednesdays. This movement also didn't bother my back, so I think this will be an OK exercise to do. That wraps up the first week of this "brokenlifting" routine. Let's see how it plays out over the long run.

The R&R Period (Recovery & Rehabilitation) 16 Feb 21 I'm planning to focus my attention on the Press component of the "Pentagon" over the next couple of months. I tried to bench press last week, however, arching my back aggravated my lower back/sacrum area, so I'm trying to avoid anything that aggravates my lower back at least for a month or so. So given that, I've switched out the bench press with the floor press, and I'm planning to build up the three following lifts: - Floor press - Floor JM press - Z-press All of those exercises are done off the floor, so my lower back shouldn't have any issues with those. I assessed the three lifts yesterday and established baselines to build off of. The one adjustment that took some getting used to was un-racking the bar off the safety pins. The lowest level on the pin slots makes the lift-off from the pins high, so I made sure I could un-rack the bar in a safe manner. I'm planning to swim Tues & Thurs and hopefully that may help some on my injury recovery. Post-swim, my lower back is a little achy but nothing that's unbearable. That'll wrap it up for this post. Being injured adds a new layer of "fun" to the training challenges.

The Wario Challenge: It Was Good While It Lasted 13 Feb 21 I injured my lower back/hip flexors a couple of weeks ago, and have been slowly taking it easy. When I look back at my most recent post on 19 Jan, I can see where there were red flags especially with the throbbing glute medials. So, I'll break down what happened and what my plans will be going forward: I was going through my normal Monday workout routine with no noticeable issues prior to starting. I felt fine, energy-wise, didn't feel sore, and I had warmed-up. Within the first set, I experienced a slight tweak in the top of my left glute close to the waistline. It wasn't painful, but it alarmed me enough to rack the weight and back off a minute or two. Walking it off, I felt ok and went back to complete the remaining reps for the set. On the 3rd rep, at lockout, I experienced sharp, excruciating pain on both sides at the top of the glute medial areas, and went rack the bar immediately. The pain was bad enough that I dropped to the floor and curled into the child's pose for a minute or two. After the pain subside some, I tried to stand up, but had a great amount of difficulty and taking a seat on the flat bench nearby did not help at all as it was very painful getting up. I managed to unrack the weight (4 45-lb bumper plates), and went back to the locker room to shower. I proceeded to take a hot shower, and I will let Shaq summarize that: That was a terrible decision on my part, because following that shower was an agonizing 45 min of trying to dress and get out. By the time I got home, I was in pretty bad shape. It sucked because for a little bit, I was able to walk around and didn't have too much pain. But after sitting down for just a few minutes, the pain flaired up and it was pretty brutal. I could not sleep in my normal sleeping position that night, and slept at the foot of my bed primarily on my stomach. Over the next few days, I iced, took Aleve on 12-hr cycles, and used a makeshift pole as a cane to move around the house. The first day after the incident, I didn't work; I just rested the entire day since I could not sit in a chair very long without getting incredibly stiff and uncomfortable. By Wednesday, I was able to move around more and managed to work the entire day. I still used the pole for assistance when walking around since my hips felt like they could give out at any time. Thankfully, I didn't have any substantial pain the rest of the week. I was super cautious and just rested and iced as much as I could. By the time I got to Saturday, I regained 90% of my mobility, ditched the pole, and managed to get out of the house and go do errands. The following week, I did not go to the gym. I didn't have any issues other than stiffness and some degree of soreness. Two weeks after the injury, I went back to the gym to do upper body stuff (bench pressing and overhead pressing mainly). I tried to assess my ability to squat and deadlift w/ light weight, but my lower body felt too fragile and I didn't feel comfortable doing too much w/ any of that. So, my plan is to focus on upper body stuff for the foreseeable future and gauge my lower body to determine the recovery. I don't believe I'll be getting back into my regular squat routine for awhile. So, what can I take away from all this? The reality is--injuries are part of strength training, or I should say, strength training that involves serious progression over time. Hopefully, and from my experience over time, most of them are minor aches that usually resolve themselves in a day or so. But, there are some that completely destroy game plans and force a rehabilitation and reset. I have injured my lower back before, and the biggest asset I found to recovery was using a reverse hyper machine Unfortunately, my current gym doesn't have this piece of equipment, so I will have to figure out another way to rehab. I am thinking about using a swimming board and doing the reverse hyper movement in the pool. We'll see how that goes. Here's the takeaways I have from this injury: 1. Don't apply heat immediately after an injury (even if you feel ok shortly after) 2. Use a supporting mechanism to stand up and walk around with such as a stick or cane, especially if it was a lower back injury 3. Don't get too confident with recovery--it's better to play it safe and be cautious 4. If you live alone, try to limit what you're going to do (i.e. cook, clean) at least for the first few days post-injury 5. Sleeping face-down at the foot of the bed w/ a firm pillow under the stomach is a helpful position to sleep/rest in 6. Apply ice regularly 7. If you have a massage pad, it helps with sitting down to do desk work. Although I would only turn it on when the stiffness becomes too unbearable The Wario Challenge---unfortunately Wario beat me on this challenge. But, you can't always win (otherwise this would be a boring log). And hopefully, I'll beat him at some point.

The Wario Challenge 19 Jan 21 Going into the workout today, I was pretty sore, and post-workout, I still felt pretty sore. I did power cleans, a set of deadlifts, and a set of Pendlay Rows. The movements were ok, execution-wise, but my medial glutes were throbbing quite a bit. My right leg felt stiff, and throughout the day, my knee was throbbing a fair amount. While it's definitely not welcoming, the reality is this is what happens w/ high volume training. Still gonna take it day by day and assess one set at a time. If I feel I'm able to get through the sets, I'll get through them. If not, I'll back off. Not much to it honestly. Despite feeling a little bit beat up, I'm still grateful I can train. Another day down--onto the next one.

The Wario Challenge 18 Jan 21 Well....can't decide if stretching over the weekend really helped me or hurt me starting out this week. My right leg (the leg that's been having the tendonitis issue) was feeling sore today leading up to the gym. Nothing too bad, but I could tell it was more noticeable compared to the start of last week. I managed to get through the squats (I had an even split between 7 & 14 reps on the sets for the main squat), although I was starting to throb a little bit in the medial gluteus muscles on the back tempo squats. I've tried to control the acceleration on the squats in that I'm not trying to shoot the bar off my traps like I've been doing. After finishing up and stretching post-workout, I went back to the locker room, showered, and felt ok heading home. Despite the soreness, I'm still making progress each workout. If I can do 6 x 7 at 245 lbs or 6 x 14 at 185 lbs on the squat in the next two weeks, I'll be satisfied. I'm going to try to continue working with higher reps going into the spring and then as the year goes on, I'll taper down the reps. I actually like doing the higher reps, and it's definitely helping with the conditioning (I don't feel as gassed during the workouts compared to several weeks ago). That wraps up Monday's workout. For as sore as I may be, it could be worse....I could be training like Tom Platz:

The Wario Challenge 12 January 21-15 January 21 The second week of the challenge has closed out. I used Tuesday as a deadlift & power clean day. I'm going to start incorporating deadlifts back into my routine on a regular basis going forward. Basically, I have a "Pentagon" approach to barbell training this year: The squat is the top priority in this organization, and that's where I'm doing the four accessory movements (tempo squats on Monday & pause squats on Wednesday) in addition to the main movement. I'm doing overhead presses on Monday & Wednesday and Pendlay rows on Tuesday & Friday. Tuesday's workout went through w/ no hiccups. I'm doing higher volume on power cleans than I've done in the past (10+ reps per set vs 5 or lower per set), and a lot of this is for conditioning. Because power cleans are a movement where form deteriorates fast especially on higher sets, I'm aiming to get at least 7 quality reps, take a quick breather, and complete the remaining reps in a quality fashion. My lungs definitely got worked on the power cleans. After the power cleans, I did a set of deadlifts and that wrapped up Tuesday's workout. On Wednesday, I felt a little bit fatigued, but not sore. And really, as long as I'm not hurting, fatigue is going to be part of "embracing the suck" with the training. On Friday, I definitely felt more fatigued and a little bit sore. I'm also extremely tight, which doesn't help by the time I get to the end of the week. Really, if only I could be stretched like Stretch Armstrong... Maybe some entrepreneurial individual will see a gold nugget of opportunity. Anyhow, despite the fatigue and soreness, I managed to get through the second week without hating the gym. Now onto the 3rd week of the Wario Challenge. ^That could be me by the end of the challenge, but let's hope not.

The Wario Challenge 6 January 21-11 January 21 Picking up from last Monday, my legs felt like trash leading up to Wednesday, and going into Wednesday's workout, I was skeptical. However, I decided to just get through what I could, and I ended up completing the entire workout. Surprisingly, somewhat, I didn't feel as beat up going through the rest of week. On Friday's workout, I felt decent and managed to get through the workout without any issues. No soreness over the weekend. Starting out the second week of this challenge, I had less volume, rep-wise, on Monday's workout, but heavier weights were involved. Compared to last week, I seemed to get through the workout much smoother. I didn't feel as beat up at the end, and the following day I felt fine--no soreness. So far, I seem to be adjusting to the higher volume. We'll see how this goes the next few weeks. Overall, the new year's training routine is starting off on a good foot. The fight for stronger legs continues.

The Wario Challenge 4 January 21 The third challenge is in honor of Mario's arch rival, Wario: After a hiatus of almost a month in length, I returned back to the normal gym routine. After realizing how out of shape I was before I went on my hiatus, I decided coming back that I would be upping the volume significantly. And after 70 squats (not including the 24 extra accessory squats following that) in today's workout, I left the gym looking like this: My legs were screaming "WHAT THE !%#@ DUDE!" to me. But, in all honesty, I needed this literal "butt-whooping" today. I enjoyed too much good food and sleep over the holidays, and, well, all good things must end at some point. The upside was I didn't feel like I was having a heart attack or feel like I was on the Moon w/ no oxygen support (but it did feel like I was on Jupiter especially w/ everything below the waist). The downside--there are still 3 squat days left on the docket this week. Yeah, I'm shocking my legs after the past month of doing nothing. But by the end of this challenge, I should have a nice, well-conditioned dairyer. And I'll probably have pants that fit way too tight.

Transition Period 7 December 20 This post covers both the 4th & 7th of December, so I'll start w/ the 4th. It was the first time in a few years that I've done a workout where the total reps was around 50. I was expecting to get destroyed, but because I was conservative w/ the weights I selected, I was spared the destruction. All 4 sets felt good--I had significant pumps in both legs. The knee wasn't aggravated too much (likely because of the lighter weight involved). The accessory exercises consisted of paused squats, and those felt fine as well. For today's workout, I did 2 x 1 on the squat (Monday is essentially Singles Day during this transition period) followed by 3 x 4 on the tempo squat and 4 x 3 on the tempo front squat. Compared to last week, it felt like the singles moved better this week. There was one set where I had un-racked the bar and was setting my feet in place to commence the squat, and the weight felt pretty darn heavy. But, that was a one-time situation, and I didn't seem to have that problem on other sets. All in all, the transition period seems to be going well so far. Until next time Monday.

Transition Period 2 December 20 Compared to Monday, where the workout made it on Michael's Bad Album, the workout today was more of a bounce back: Wednesday is what I'm using as a "middle of the continuum" day with regards to reps. I have set the total reps to be performed on the squat at 24, and I'll either do 2 sets of 12 reps or 12 sets of 2 reps. Today, I did 2 x 12. This is the first time in a very long time that I've done more than 10 reps on the squat; I've usually been sticking around 5 or fewer reps on my sets. But, I have found significant value in working in the 10+ rep range, especially for volume accumulation. And next week, I could do 2 x 12 again, or it could be 12 x 2. Regardless, 24 squats will be performed. Prior to going in to the gym, I was not feeling it at all. I was even contemplating skipping. I normally don't have many of these days where I really don't want to go into the gym, but when I do, I find a great reward in doing so even more than on the days where I'm looking forward to going in. For the 2 x 12, I did have a significant pump in both legs and felt a little bit more pressure in the knee compared to the past few months. That's actually one thing I've noticed since Monday--my knee is starting to have some very slight aching again. It's nothing painful, but it's somewhat noticeable. In all honesty, there will probably be a trade of strength gains for some mild discomfort as I start working with heavier weight. At least it's not getting worse or painful enough to where it's affecting my day-to-day lifestyle. After the 2 x 12 I did 4 x 3 on the pause squat and 3 x 4 on the pause front squat. Similar to the squat, I'm setting the accessory exercises to 12 total reps, which will either be accomplished as a 4 x 3 or a 3 x 4. All in all, I left the gym feeling content w/ the workout today. Good Hump Day.

Transition Period 30 November 20 This album cover sums up today's time in the gym: Not sure if the turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pies are to blame, but either way, this workout was terrible. I felt extremely uncoordinated and off-balance on the squats today. Unlike the past challenge, I'm going to up the frequency of lower body stuff going forward. So, I'll be combining the accessory exercises I've done w/ the main squat in a regular workout. Hopefully, the increased frequency will knock off the holiday rust I seem to have accumulated. The plan for the month of December is to run a transition period (i.e. not a program challenge like the King K. Rool Challenge was). I'm doing this expecting to have crazy hours at work leading up to New Year's Day as well as the undesirable, but possible, reality that the gym could shut down again in the coming weeks as the 'Rona activity increases. Either way, the plan is to start my third challenge sometime in January. Until then, I'm using this upcoming month to work across the strength continuum and prepare my body to handle heavier weights and higher volumes. I also realized today that my legs are tighter than guitar strings and the best stretching routine for me would be the "Bloodsport" stretch: In all honesty, I'd probably scream in agony if I had to hold that stretch for even a second. But, it could be a worthwhile goal. Anyhow, here's to hoping the following workouts this week don't end up on Michael's album like the one today did.

Don't Estimate 1-Rep Maxes 23 November 20 If there's one lesson I've learned from the past two months, it's the title of this post. Granted, I did make my 2nd challenge goal of squatting 325 lbs. But the baseline that was established at the beginning and the current metrics based off the previous weeks progress would've had me squatting much more weight that I was capable of doing today. To put things into perspective, I've been out of the gym 12 days (last day in was Nov 11). Last week, I worked more hours at work to catch up on tasks, and decided I'd use the week as an "off week". Today's session was used to assess where my 1-rep max on the squat stood. Going in, I was skeptical of hitting my goal number (325 lbs). I spent the weekend working out in the yard and didn't really feel rested leading up to this afternoon. Starting out, I performed the first single at 135 lbs and performed 185, 225, and 255 following the first set. One issue that I had was unracking the bar on an uneven surface--stepping right out of the rack put the feet on a slight slope, so I needed to take a much further walkout from the rack to get on level surface. 275 is when the bar started to feel heavier. I got to 305 lbs, and it took a little bit more effort than I would've liked. So, I rested a few minutes before attempting 315. 315 felt considerably harder than the previous attempts, but it wasn't yet to the point where I was "fighting gravity" to get the weight up. I decided to attempt 325. Just right out of the hole, it was definitely a struggle. However, after I got out of the slight, sticking point, the rest was relatively smooth. So, in terms of reaching the goal of squatting 325 lbs, the goal was met. However, there are some points that make this feel like a less-than accomplished goal: 1. Estimating a 1-Rep Maximum Instead of Setting an Actual One: This is, hands-down, the biggest flaw I believe I set doing this second challenge program. I used the 1 x 5 at 275 lbs I did at the end of the first challenge as a reference for estimating my 1-rep maximum. Up to that point, I've never estimated a 1-rep max when setting up a program. I would always go in, test my 1-rep max, and then set up my programming based off the number set in the gym. For this challenge, though, I decided to use an estimated 1-rep max. One issue that I feel made this approach questionable, looking back, was the execution of the 1 x 5 itself. It was a much slower cadence set of 5 in terms of 5-repetition sets I've done in the past. So, for sets of 5 reps that I've done at 75% of my 1-rep max, this set was probably more like 85% of my 1-rep max when I factor in the time it took to complete the set and the effort required. I was able to progress over the course of the program, but the last workout had my 60% 1 RM set at 235 lbs. Which, if you do the math, would put my 1 rep-max around 390 lbs. And after assessing my squat today, I can say for certain that my 1 RM is nowhere near that number yet. Time and experience gave rise to my skepticism w/ my "estimated" number, and today's assessment validated my skepticism. Not only was the number off, but I could even tell over the past few weeks that the force production I would expect at 60% of a 1 RM wasn't up to par for the weight I was lifting. Needless to say, I won't be estimating my 1-rep maxes again. 2. Structure of Exercises & Lack of Volume: I set up my program to have me squat 4x a week. However, it should be noted that this consisted of 4 completely different squat styles, so I was only doing my regular squat 1x a week. The lack of frequency, with regards to doing my regular squat, I believe played a significant part in my less than ideal progression. I've validated this several times over my training tenure--if I focus on other accessory exercises (meant to supplement the main exercise) equal to or in excess of the main exercise, the main exercise usually suffers in some capacity. In addition to the lack of frequency, I also believe the low volume of the program had an adverse affect on the increases of strength I actually saw at the end. None of the exercises during any of the workouts were above 20 total reps for a given workout. This is the first program I've done where the total volume on a main movement was less than 20 total reps...for a workout week. And, in short, it wasn't very effective with regards to increasing strength substantially. 3. Time Away from the Gym: This challenge, or program period, had me away from the gym much more than I would've liked. There were several weeks where I was out for at least 5 days. And the weeks coming back in after being out were usually spent knocking the rust off. Some of the time away was planned (early October), but other periods were unplanned. Overall, I usually avoid spending large segments of time away from the gym, and this period was, unfortunately, quite the exception. While I'm quite critical of the progress made on this program, there are a few items that I found to be beneficial w/ the program: 1. Health: My knee felt great during the course of the program. I didn't have any recovery issues post-workout like I've had in the past, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I may be overcoming the tendonitis I've been wrestling with for over two years. So, this is definitely the biggest upside to the past two months--I managed to keep my knee healthy and progress w/o having any issues w/ that knee. 2. Acceleration: I definitely have more acceleration in the 200 +- 20 lbs range than I've had before, and this is being 10 lbs lighter in weight than I was pre-pandemic. 255 lbs went up like a rocket, at least for a single, so I definitely believe there's a good baseline of acceleration that I'll have moving forward. Overall, would the King K Rool Challenge be considered an accomplishment w/ regards to my squat? Per my initial set goal, I guess. But, it's also a period where I've learned more about my program construction shortcomings than I have in previous years. And with these lessons, I'll be much more prudent in how I go about constructing my future training plans.