November 28, 2014 – Week 2, Day 3 & November 29, 2014 – Week 2, Day 4

As usual, went down to the mountains of Virginia for Thanksgiving with family on my mother’s side. Being around people can be exhausting to me. A bit more somber this year as this is the first everyone has been together since my grandfather passed away in September and Thanksgiving had always been his favorite holiday since the family all came together. On top of that, it was a reminder of Jenkins too and will always be a reminder of the year before when he suddenly passed. While I am thankful for my family, it was good to have time to be alone with my thoughts while lifting.

November 28, 2014 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

Barbell Strict Presses
45x10
75x5
105x3
135x3
165x1
200x7/2/1

Lean Away Dumbbell Lateral Raises
40x10/10
40x10/10

40x10/10

Plate Around-the-Worlds
45x15/15/15
45x15/15/15
45x15/15/15

Close Grip Barbell Bench Presses
135x2
190x2
240x2
290x2
290x2

290x2

290x2

Overhead Dicks Presses
90x8
90x8
90x8

Neutral Grip Pull-ups
bw+10x9
bwx8
bwx6

32 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Dropped off at the gym and set about warming up and getting ready to lift. If I knew that I’d be lifting this early in the day, I probably wouldn’t have eaten all those western omelettes at the hotel. Warmed up and got set for lifting. Weight felt good on strict presses but I got a little off balance from the slight bevels in the rubber flooring. I feel I lost of rep here because of it. I gave a half-hearted attempt to get a third rep on the second set of rest pause but as soon as I did, I knew it would be an all-out grinder so I shut it down and saved it for the last set. Weight increase on lean away’s was fine and the lower reps kept me from experiencing the painful lactic acid fatigue. I’m getting used to the around-the-worlds. I only went to eye-level for the front raise portion as going all the way up was what did me in last time. I felt my recovery was better after all the shoulder stuff for benching as I didn’t feel like I would be crushed by 135lbs like last time. This not to say these were easy by any stretch. Every rep felt heavy even though they moved pretty well. The bench wasn’t adjustable and was quite squishy. From there, on to easy dicks presses and then pull-ups. While my first set wasn’t as awesome as last week’s, my consistency and recovery between sets was better.

November 29, 2014 – Week 2, Day 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

Front Squats
45x10
135x5
185x3
235x1
285x1
285x1
285x1
285x1
285x1
285x1

3” Block Pulls
225x5
315x3
405x1
475x1
Added Straps
525x1
525x1
525x1
525x1
525x1

525x1

Snatch Grip Deadlifts (straps)
295x1

370x1

445x3
445x3
445x3

Head Supported Swiss Bar Rows
135x2
195x5
195x5
195x5
195x5

195x5

Yoke/Farmer’s Walk Medleys
600xpick/220xpick
600x60’/220x60’
600x60’/220x60’
600x60’/220x60’

Gironda Perfect Curls
85x8
85x8
85x8
85x8

Pulldown Abs
120x8
120x8
120x8

28 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Knees were a tad achy after being in the car for 4.5 hours but I needed to lift and I rushed over to Ironmill as soon as I got back home. Even though the sun was out, I knew I had to get everything setup first because I knew it would be cold and dark by the time I got to event work. I didn’t feel like I needed to do so much warm-ups for the front squats this time around and they were just as speedy as last week. I had made an error last week with the deadlifts. I was supposed to be pulling with the weights on 3” blocks, not myself standing on 3” blocks. So same weight as last week with the correct exercise. This change was only slightly better haha. 3” block pulls are slightly less than what I pull from the ground. These were tough but I knew I would get all the lifts this time. I did some singles to prep for the snatch grips this time around. My hope was that they wouldn’t be as soul crushing.  I brought my grip in about 6” each side as suggested. These were all kinds of suck by not as much as last week. It looks like the gym now has a swiss bar type thing so I used that for rows. These felt good (despite the sore back) but I can’t touch my chest with the weight. Went outside to do light-ish event work in the cold darkness. I increased the weights a little and I tried to keep the rests shorter than I had last week. Yoke felt better despite the tightness in my knees and quads while farmer’s walk was good but I was pretty wobbly. As last time, finished up with the weird curls and super easy ab work. Finished up the night by putting all the toys away and stretching.