March 19, 2017 – Week 2, Day 3

5 Minutes Sled Drag (55lbs for .25 miles)

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MBx25/10 seconds

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MBx25/10 seconds

Farmer’s Walk
112x50’ in 7.97 seconds
112x50’ in 7.64 seconds
202x50’ in 9.29 seconds
202x50’ in 8.58 seconds
202x50’ in 8.85 seconds

Sandbag Load Over Bar (57”)
150x10

Stretching

Comments: Quite a bit of the snow has melted and it is warming up. Had little better idea of what to expect with how last week went going into this workout. Sled drag warm-up around the block like last time. Didn’t time it as it was going to be about 5 minutes to make the course from timing last time. Heart rate only got up to 147bpm. After that was calf raises. Ankle flexibility felt good and almost rhythmic movements on these. Some fatigue but to be expected with the sled drag course having uphill components at times. Box touches with the band rows and biceps stretch after that. First time through with wide stance and then second time with regular stance. Box touches felt good on the hamstrings and hips. Decent pump in the back on the rows. Stepped a little farther out and sat down a little into the stretch for the biceps this time. A bit better I think this time. Now for event work. Starting things off with farmer’s walk. I had weighed my handles and they turned out to be 3lbs less than I had thought they were. I figured I’d check since I was weighing other stuff. I always feel like I’m a bit of a slow starter with farmer’s walks. I reset the handles rather than starting where I stopped like yoke. Keep the course consistent (slightly uphill) and gave me a good period to rest. Started with warm-ups with a plate each side. Didn’t feel heavy but felt slow. Left oblique woke up on that first run. Got to stay tight in the midsection. Paired with yoke, this is similar enough and different enough if that makes sense. Pick is a set height as opposed to yoke being (usually) adjustable so little more ROM on the pick-up. Moving about the same besides the muscles supporting the weights. Now on to work sets. Idea being to pick a weight that was easy and smooth. That can be hard to gauge with farmer’s walk. Depends on how the grip and shoulders feel some days. Pick up of the implements is always the hardest for me and usually I warm-up just doing picks to save energy and get used to the implement. Sometimes that is all you can do at a big contest. I want to go heavier but I need to be smart about this. Picking between going up a quarter to a plate a side. I elected to go another plate. Definitely felt heavy that first set. Second set, it didn’t feel as bad in the hands but still pretty heavy in the shoulders. I tried to do a faster start but my left calf didn’t want to listen and I stumbled a little. I told myself that the last set had to be perfect. I got my upper back tight and got everything set just right. I waited until I was fully locked out before moving. Felt light this time and I held it for a bit at the end. This was slightly slower than my second run but it felt like my best of the day. Might have to adjust for next time. Last thing for today was loads with a light sandbag. I was debating over loading to a platform or over bar. Platform would probably have been my preference but with how lively the bag is and how the added height on the platform isn’t stable, I went with over bar. This meant going to the other side of the yoke for the next rep. I wasn’t going to go under since bending and rushing under could lead to a mishap with the back. Didn’t feel heavy at all. Just throwing it over the bar. But what usually happens is the repeated abuse of the drops and tumbles opened up the sandbag after the eighth rep so the last two reps I was trying to not have sand spill out. Resulted in me banging my head into the crossbar of the yoke on the second to last rep. Not as winding as last session with the stone of steel. Maybe I’m getting used to it or just the fact I didn’t need to over-crush the sandbag like with the stone of steel meant better breathing. Hopefully the winter weather will stop and I can get back to a normal workout schedule this coming week.