July 23, 2016 – Week 1, Day 4

Still got soreness in my lower body. I was to the point where I was debating taking the day off to go walk and try lifting tomorrow or lifting today and possibly cutting some stuff. I wasn’t feeling the best as my back was tight (I think sleeping in and those stabilizing planks did it) and I felt like I had a cold. Felt tough to keep food down. I did some stretches for my back, hips and hamstrings to get them feeling better. I decided on not walking as we are experiencing a heat wave at it was 99 degrees out.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Paused Safety Squat Bar Front Squats
(no pauses)
60x5
90x5
110x3
130x3
(3 second pauses)
150x1
150x1
170x5
170x5
170x5

14” Axle Rack Pulls (straps)
72x10
116x5
160x5
210x3
260x3
300x5
300x5
300x5
300x5
300x5
300x5

45-degree Back Extensions
bwx30
bwx25
bwx20

Pulldowns
150x12
150x12
150x12
150x12
150x12

Inverted Rows
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10

43 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Very anxious with this workout. I mean, I’d be trying to deadlift. I was worried that this was too soon and I wasn’t feeling the best. Even though my legs were very sore, I did what I planned to do at the start and do paused front squats with the ssb. My back and hips felt fine while doing the lifts but there was some tenderness when I was in between sets and I’m not sure what that was about. Big gulps of air each rep and made sure I stayed tight. Not too bad with short rests. Then on to pulls. Very nervous here. Before the Nationals events were listed, I was going to do regular deadlifts from the floor with a barbell. Then they were posted and I replaced the barbell with an axle and raised it off the ground. A few other contests have an axle deadlift so it made sense to get used to it just in case. With Nationals, the bar is going to be higher than standard height (I figured anywhere from 12” to 18”) so I went for the low side. Less issues if bending down to the bar while still building. My legs were twitching like crazy getting strapped to the axle. No pain. I figured out during my warm-up sets that I would have to modify my plan. I needed to stay tight and doing the reps by banging off the pins or stopping short wouldn’t be good. I decided to take a page from Eddie Hall with the rack pulls when it came to the working weight. I took about 2-3 breathes between each rep to set myself up to pull with a big held breath and maximum tightness. I also stopped my pulls a few inches short of lockout. The reason being to save energy (never had an issue locking out deadlifts) and to avoid putting undue stress on my hips and back (standing up straight usually causes me the most discomfort when it flares up, don’t want to risk it). After the first set, I knew I needed to cut the sets down as it was going to be bridge too far. I settled on six sets and I probably could have kept going but it was enough for now. I now know the height will be higher (17-18”) but I will keep this height for this phase. On to the assistance work. I was starting to feel a little light headed by this point but I think that was because staff were printing tons of paper copies across the hall. Walking in that hallways smelled like a paper mill mixed with low tide at a brackish marsh. First up was back extensions with just body weight for high reps with short rests. I was originally going to do two sets of three mini sets (short rests for the mini sets, longer rest between the sets) but after doing the first “mini set” I knew that one go through would be enough. Then on to pulldowns. I decided to go lighter than planned as I was feeling pretty tired and I was worried that doing too much would cause the same thing that happened with the chest support rows on my hips. After the second set, I didn’t bother getting up from the station and sat there for my rest breaks. By the end my biceps were quite fatigued and the weight was pretty challenging. Then on to inverted rows. Thought of doing them as this wouldn’t put my hips in a compromised position and I could still row. Not getting full range of motion but I don’t care. Just laid on the ground between sets to rest. I was going to do ab work but I was not feeling good and I probably would have thrown up if I did. The staff were still printing stuff when I left and getting some fresh air made me feel a ton better. Home to do a ton of stretching. I won’t call this week a success until I wake up Monday morning and nothing feels like I’m in pain.