April 22 Workout and Some Thoughts

Warm up: Leg swings, side knee kick 10 per side (only faster and with a twisting motion with the arms going the opposite direction
Warm up: Toe-touch in-the-hole squats, x20
Warm up: Spiderman lunges, x20

Back Squat, set 1:
Pancho: 90lbs x 10
The Marmot: 140lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 2:
Pancho: 100lbs x 10
The Marmot: 160lbs x 10
Back Squat, set 3:
Pancho: 115lbs x 8
The Marmot: 185lbs x 8

Dead lift, set 1:
Pancho: 140lbs x 4, followed immediately by 10 unweighted explosive high jumps
The Marmot: 235lbs x 4, 10 high jumps (grip failed) --that's a bingo! 
Dead lift, set 2:
Pancho: 135lbs x 4, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 235lbs x 1, 10 high jumps (grip)
Dead lift, set 3:
Pancho: 135lbs x 4, 10 high jumps
The Marmot: 215lbs x 5, 10 high jumps

Front Squat
Pancho: 55lbs x 10

Marmot:95lbs x 10
Front squat set 2
Pancho: 60lbs x 10
Marmot:105 x 10
Front squat set 3
Pancho: 65lbs x 10
Marmot:115lbs x 8

Overhead Press
Pancho: 45 lbs x 5
Marmot: 45 lbs x 5
  
One-leg leg press & plank, set 1:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 2:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank
One-leg leg press & plank, set 3:
Pancho: 10lbs x 15; 60 sec plank
The Marmot: 55lbs x 10; 60 sec plank

2-hand farmer carries (that is, holding a weight and walking):
Pancho: 25lb plates, 2 laps
The Marmot: 45lb plates, 2 laps

1-hand farmer carries:
Pancho: 25lbs plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps
The Marmot: 45lbs plate, alternating hand per lap, 4 laps

Overhead farmer's walk
Pancho: 25lbs plate
The Marmot: 45lbs plate

Bridge
Held for 10 seconds between 10 raises for 3 sets.  In other words, we would hold the bridge for 10 seconds, go down and come back up without pausing, and then hold it for another 10 seconds (repeat 10 times).  After each 10 repetitions we would do..

20 leg raises and then another set of the bridge

Then we went the hell home and ate a lot of chicken and vegetables...it was amazing.

Thoughts on the workout:
Talking to Pancho, I think the workout went great today, we went really deep on our squats and the overall energy was fantastic.  I managed to get to my 1rpm for deadlift (235 lbs) for a few reps. 
One major issue that's limiting the progress of my deadlifts is my grip strength.  In terms of  form and leg/back strength, I think I could go up to 240lbs for multiple reps, but one of my hands starts to slip.  This is both a problem in terms of focus and actually completing the lift.

I've done a tiny bit of research to see how to improve things and it looks like there are a few solutions, 1 mechanical and 3 involving strength training.  Pancho and I have known for a long time that competitive lifters prefer to have alternating grips, (one facing the body and one facing outwards) for deadlifts.  I've never felt comfortable with this so I stick to my less efficient inward grip.  I could try to change this and see if it offers any mechanical advantages.  However, I like this solution less because I always feel super imbalanced when I try it--but I should at least give it a good go a few times to see it if works (and if I get used to it).  The other options involve various grip workouts.  The  most common of these is to train with a thicker bar.  You can buy various bar thickeners which attach to whatever it is you're lifting to make things harder for your forearms.  One of the pull-up bars in the gym is already very thick, so hopefully that will help.  There is also stuff we're already doing like farmer carries etc.  Finally, there are things like "static holds" which is to just hold the bar with a lot of weight until failure. 

We might have to look into some bar thickener if my grip doesn't improve.  Though, we're going to continue with the farmer carries that we're doing and see if things get better.