genuine gym day. the genuine lift was my 5/3/1 bench. i did 65/75/85 exactly the way that they said. and there was no extra rep for the final set, which was a bit disappointing. i still have that self-image as a person who can bench 90 pounds. but it also says that my training max is set in about the right place, i guess. i super-setted with cable pulldowns at 60 pounds, to make sure my lats were alive.

aaaaaand for the rest i did squats. words to live by for muscle problems? find the closest bone to the problem muscle, and check out the one on the other side of that bone. all that whining about hips and glutes and tfl, everything on the outside of my pelvis, and turned out the key was my iliopsoas - the muscle that lives on the inside surface of your pelvis. i got down on the floor with a big squishy ball a few days ago and did some super-painful and super-careful but super-effective rolling around, and my glutes came to life like lazarus out of the tomb.

so i did squats. still carefully, because i still haz buttwink and my shoulders are tight so still having the hell of a time with that 'engage the core' and finding the right way to make space for my hips to drop through below parallel. i don't want to wake up the same problem right after i put it to sleep. but i alternated front and back squats in manymany sets of 5, with 5-pound increases all the way up to 55. it was reassuring to see i can at least front-squat with 55 and feel pretty strong, and they do make a big difference to gain core control. so i left it at that after about 8 sets of each, and i feel good.

got involved in giving deadlift tips to a kid while i was waiting for my own turn in the rack. he was so clearly clearly trying to get the lumbar arch right and hold it, and he actually asked for my check. so i didn't feel like a big butt-inski and after a while the gym attendant got involved too. comes back later (attendant) and asks me 'so you're a powerlifter?'

i lol'd.