Update

I've started writing this post four or five times in the past couple weeks.  I've had mixed emotions about training, life, and the direction I want to take things.

Law School
Last Monday I turned in my last paper.  I'm done with law school.  Graduation is this coming Friday.  My entire family is flying in, which is really awesome.  All in all, I feel great.  I worked hard.  Originally, I wrote a lot about this, but blah.  In sum: I loved the experience; I loved the way it changed the way I think; I like that I got a decent job where I can use my brain.  Now, I'm ready to get going and restart my adult life.

Three years of Training
I can't believe I'm approaching three years of entries on this blog.  I started it in June 2011.  Its hard to describe how much I've learned during this time.  For a number of reasons, it hasn't necessarily translated into more bar weight, but I don't mind.  I've always viewed strength and conditioning as a life long journey.  This is something I need to be healthy, strong, and to keep my sanity when I'm sitting at desk most of the day.

There have certainly been ups and downs.  My very first training entry on this blog was a "Heavy Day" where I squatted 405x3. 415x3. 415x5.  Now, I can't squat at all. Haha.  My second training entry was a hill sprint session.  Though I've had some dry spells here and there, I've consistently conditioned for 1-3x sessions per week over the past couple years.  The result of this conditioning is I developed a VO2max in the highest category for normal athletes (I still haven't blogged about getting this tested yet).  Essentially, my heart can pump oxygen to my muscles at the same maximum rate as an amateur marathon runner.  This means nothing by itself, but overall, I think it makes my training much more consistent.  I cruise through most workouts at a fast pace and get a lot of work in.

I've managed to hit some PR's during this time.  I hit a 570 pull and 340 bench in a meet after experimenting with pulling and benching daily.  I also hit a 275 incline, 455x3 squat, and 100x3 chin after following an RTS routine.  There are other PR's, but certainly not enough in my opinion.

There are many reasons why my Big 3 didn't progress like I wanted it to.  First, I prioritized school.  No explanation needed.  Second, I program hopped.  I don't view this as a bad thing.  I learned a shitload about myself during this time.  I think understanding how adaptation and stress truly works requires time on opposite ends of the spectrum.  The only problem with this is I didn't build momentum very often.  Third, poor movement, mobility, and stability completely fucked me up over time.

Since October, I've been addressing the third issue.  Fucked up movement and mobility. Looking back, I literally knew nothing about barbell movements.  I thought I did, but I didn't.  And quite honestly, I was a snob about it.  I'm a little more humble now.  I could go on and on about everything from the past few months.  I've made a lot of progress, but took some steps backwards in the process.

Squatting went from nonexistant, to bad, to good, to horrible.  I can no longer squat.  I've been battling this for a better part of a year (hip pain started in June 2012), and I'm just fucking tired of it.  I made huge strides in pelvic alignment, neutral spine, and hip mobility, only to develop severe anterior knee pain in the process.  I can only blame myself.  I became obsessed with upright, straight drop squatting, and in the course of a few weeks, I fucked my knees.  My right knee is especially fucked.  Its been a week since I last squatted, and I still can't sit for 5 minutes without throbbing pain.

I'm just exhausted with a single movement bringing so much negativity into my life. And it is my LIFE I'm talking about.  I can barely walk downstairs, I can't drive anywhere, and it generally just fucking sucks.  Its retarded.  I'm done fucking my joints up over a fucking exercise.  I'm not giving up on squats forever, but right now, I'm done.  Its just not worth it anymore.

Forward
Over the past few days, I realized I do a lot of things in the gym because that is what I used to do when I actively powerlifted.   For example, I've been benching 2x a week all semester...  Why?  I have zero plans to compete right now; it puts every other upper body movement on the back burner; and honestly, I don't like having an overdeveloped lower chest.  It looks bad in clothes. Bye bye bench.

I've been squatting because I felt I "had to."  Is squatting important outside of powerlifting?  Yes.  But certainly not to the extent that it destroys your quality of life.  Bye bye squats.

I have no issue with deadlifts right now, but my new routine has a ton of pulling and hinging movements.  Therefore, I do not need to conventionally pull from the ground.  Bye bye deadlifts.

Going forward, I am going to focus on: 1) the clean and jerk/overhead pressing 2) conditioning 3) core/imbalances.

I've always felt slightly embarrassed that I cannot bust out a good powerclean.  I can heave up 225, but it looks like shit.  Also, my overhead strength is pure shit.  Its always taken a back seat to benching.  No more!  Time to get diesel picking up weight and throwing it overhead.