March 28,2006 1:55 p.m.

I skipped deadlifting on Friday eve, so I could be physicaly ready to squat. Even so, with having squatted only once in the past two months, and that being on the monolift, I was absolutely petrified to get under the racks last night. My hips are still sore, but I really attribute that to sleeping on my bed too often (I usually have to alternate between sleeping on the floor and the bed so certain muscle groups don't get too sore).
For some reason all my muscle bellies were big and full and very TIGHT, so tight that I think that it may have hindered my performance a bit. The only thing I can think of that was different the past few days is that I started to include milk in my diet again, which I loooove!
Anyhoo, first set was 335 x 6, felt very managable, but again, the tightness was aggravating, especially in my calves when walking out with the weight.
I was scared silly to walk out with the 405, since it had been sooo long since I had done this. We grabbed two of the guys, Sean and George, to stand on the sides of me, to make princess feel extra safe and sound. Going down and coming up were realtively easy, not effortless for sure,after all, it is a load, but not a problem. They tried to make go down for another rep, I'm sure the strength was there, but the nervous sytem wasn't quite ready. My adamant "NO" was probably heard for miles. I vowed next week that I'd do it, so mental preparation has already begun.
What goes through my head after I leave the rack and prepare to go down? It goes like this:
sit back and lead with the hips, keep tight, get all the way down, there it is - hamstrings, power up, keep going, stay tight, get it. B and I talked about the different thought processes we use when we squat. He says he coils down and pops up like a spring. I rely on the power of my hamstrings to get me up. If you have never seen my hamstrings -they start behind knees, which I firmly believe give me extra pushing power out of the hole. This must be true because I really haven't learned to use the knee wraps to "spring" up yet. When I do...look out!!!