May 1, 2016 – Week 5, Day 4

Dynamic Warm-ups

Deadlifts
No Straps
135x5
135x5
225x3
225x3
315x1
315x1
Added Straps
405x1
405x1
405x1
405x1

Neutral Grip Pull-ups
bwx3
bwx3
bwx3

Nordic Leg Curls (5 second negatives)
bwx3
bwx3
bwx3

38 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Last one for this deload. Getting excited for the next part of this cycle of training to begin. Still got tightness in my right side of my neck and shoulder. No sprints today. Would have been tough anyways as it rained last night so it would have been very slick. J-hooks in the power rack not fixed yet, may need to buy a pair to keep in my bag. Deadlifts to start things off. Attempting find the form that works best for me. I alternated between sets with a narrow stance and a wider stance (dubbed the “Shaw Stance”). Deadlifts from the floor have felt tough the last cycle and from the past four weeks. I’m thinking that I had moved out my feet due to the stance I was taking for the trap bar pulls in preparation for the frame deadlift at the last contest. I feel that the narrower stance had been my old stance that I was using in the past. I definitely noticed that the narrow stance put a lot more stress on the lower back while the wider stance put a lot more stress on the hamstrings. Not sure which one to focus on, perhaps the other can be used as assistance stuff. Will have to see but not going to throw out either idea just yet. On to pull-ups. B.A. got an attachment for the rack so I can use a more stable surface if the need arises instead of the rings. I had to use the station at the Y for the assisted pull-ups and it can be a little claustrophobic haha. My left biceps was very sore doing these. It got better as I did them thankfully. Then the manual leg curls. While I was upstairs on pull-ups I had a thought that I don’t know why I didn’t have it sooner. The issue I’ve been having with this exercise has been my foot slipping at the bottom of the lift when I try to initiate the concentric. The smith machine base is slick. I realized I could just use the entire wall as my foot pad. Works great and I was stable enough to do all the reps without needing any assistance on the concentric part of the lift. Of course my hamstrings and calves got very tight from these. Loads of stretching to finish up the day.