#candito

week 4 (acclimation week) of Candito went generally well! I reduced my max for the second lower body day & the squats went better than hoped for, despite having the beginnings of a migraine when I turned up. pretty surreal to be doing so little volume, but it was just two sets (67.5x3, 70 kg x2) of squats, two sets of deadlifts (82.5kg x3, 85 kg x1 + a cheeky extra sumo rep, easy peasy), and accessories (3x 8-12 Bulgarian split squats, 3x8 box jumps. and abs!). I was really grateful to have my lower body accessories back. my squats are still wonky at their worst, so I feel that unilateral work is essential for me.

upper body is feeling a lot easier than lower body, and I’m cautiously optimistic about how much I can add to my 1RM on this program. I think the insane volume I was doing before wasn’t working because it was all in one workout - stuff spread across the week seems a bit more efficient. what I DON’T love is all the upper accessory volume this program has me doing. right now it’s isolateral rows, OHP, and chin-ups at 4x 8-10 rep ranges. one woman was never supposed to overhead press this much. I skip all the optional stuff (!).

this week (starting today, because my scheduling is weird) is heavy weight acclimation week! this is basically a week of practicing very heavy weights at a 1-4 rep range so I can estimate maxes for testing in week 6. I’m again cautiously optimistic and just hope I’m well-fuelled, well-rested etc. to make the best possible gains. my partner has very kindly offered to come and spot me for week 6, even though he hates the gym - I feel very loved/grateful for him. :)

argh! anxiety strikes again.

today I had such a simple workout programmed. squat 70 kg x 4-6 (1 set!), then deficit deads x8 (1 set). since I had a shitty workout on the first day of the program, I’ve been reducing the working weights by 2.5 kg if I need to. that takes me to 67.5 kg x4-6, but I figured since it was easier than it ‘should’ be, I’d go for 6.

I totally overcaffeinated before the gym and ended up really anxious, short of breath etc. by the time I got there, I was spacing out a lot. I warmed up next to two bros who are really loud and distracting - it was nearly 3am, but they kept looking over. I did 1 rep, thought someone was staring, lost my cool. thought I’d go again. I do 4 reps, I think it’s not as hard as it could be, the cleaner comes up behind me to hoover the platform. I completely lose it and re-rack. I even thought to myself as I was re-racking, “why did I do that?”. I really think I had the extra reps in me but I was just too self-conscious and anxious to get it. I did the bare minumum - maybe less - and walked out frustrated. anything over 4 reps at 67.5 kg would have been a PR, but I was spooked too easily. just did one extra rep at 67.5 kg, nice and deep, to prove to myself that it isn’t that heavy. and it really isn’t! I just get so scared at heavier weights if it’s anything more than a single. I hope I don’t get this psyched out on the heavy days later in the program.