September 30, 2017 – Week 7, Day 3

5 Minutes Concept 2 Rower

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15

One Leg Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15/15

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Squat Therapy (16” Box)
BWx15

Hip Airplanes (supported)
BWx7/7

Band Rows w/Biceps Stretch
MMBx20/20 seconds
MMBx20/20 seconds

Push-ups
BWx15

I-Beam Frame Deadlifts
Trap Bar (16”)
80x11 (miscounted)
170x5
Frame
260x2
350x2
440x2
530x2
Added Straps
620x2
710x1
660x2

Stone of Steel Over Bar (57”)
138x1
176x1
201x1
225x1
249x1
275.5x1
326x8

Prowler Pushes
555x112’6” in 50 seconds
465x170’7” in 75 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I was kind of looking forward to and also somewhat dreading this workout. Heavy frame deadlift and stone of steel on the agenda. Work had been fast paced all week and dealing with odd stuff. The night before, ended up eating four entrees at dinner and pretty much was ready for bed immediately. I felt rested getting up and hoped this would mean good things. Out to Lancaster for training. Windy and felt like Fall in the northeast today. Very big contrast from the blazing heat last week. The two extra shirts felt unnecessary today. Warmed up on the rower. Felt nice, smooth and rhythmic. Calf work was better than it had been the rest of this week as well as last week. Box touches were pretty good. Squat therapy was good too. Hip airplanes felt great. Just what I needed. Band rows and stretching followed. Easy for the back on rows. Arms pretty tight for the stretching. Set of push-ups to finish things up. Still require effort but it is quite the difference from when I first started this training cycle. First item of the day was frame deadlift. Plan being a top set of double but not a max. I weighed a lot of the equipment to make sure the numbers I was doing were close/right. Turns out the I-beam handles were lighter than I had thought they were by a little bit. Warmed up with an elevated trap bar for higher reps. I miscounted the first set and did an extra rep. Knee wasn’t acting weird like last time so that was good. Started with the empty frame after the trap bar stuff. Well not completely empty as I had to add a little bit to get it back to the weight I thought I had been using last time. Every set I gripped the back of the handles. Working up it didn’t feel so bad. I definitely had to play around the figure 8 straps get them to be the right position for me to pull. Hand is forced to be in the handle more gripped in the back versus the front. After the first set with the straps, I knew the next jump was going to be tough. I’d missed 5lbs less two weeks ago getting a single lift. Still 110lbs under contest weight. I spent go bit of time pacing and trying to talk myself up that I was going to get it. Deadlifting still a pain for me. I strapped in and gave it everything. With the way the first rep went up, I thought a tough double was there. But no, it was pretty much stuck after that. I was already off road as far as the plan with that stunt so I figured I’d get more lost and take some weight off to get my double. Didn’t feel right leaving it at 620lbs. Didn’t really rest, just however long it took me to take weights off and put them away. Definitely noticed this being tough. Felt my soul wanting to leave my body on the second rep. I rationalized with myself that I would be getting a 90 minute deep tissue massage after work on Monday to help with recovery. I really do hate being so far behind on this lift. Granted this is the most I’ve lifted off the ground since my injury. Nationals weight was a high bar even when I was healthy for me. Shooting for the moon as it were. Took a bit of time putting away all the weights. Hoped it would give a chance for my back to cooldown a bit from the effort I put on it. Then on to the stone of steel. Goal for the session was similar to last time. Work up to a comfortable single without any grip aids with more than last time to start and then do a top set of 5-10 reps with contest gear. No issues with the forearm feeling pressure so that is a good sign. I just did somewhat small jumps with weight combinations that I knew. I did the same weights I did for the first week plus the working weight from that week for an easy single. A bit more than I probably was supposed to with the weight increase from last time but it felt easy. I loaded up the stone of steel for my working set and that was when I got nervous. The nerves seem to help with this event it seems. My training partner got this weight for three doubles last week so I knew I had to put the work in. That first one gives me an idea of what I’m in for. Really, I wanted to beat the reps I got last time with this weight as I felt that I stopped early due to the thing spinning in my forearms. First rep definitely felt heavy. Not baby weight here. I took a somewhat slow and measured pace and got four before I had a mistake. I didn’t go high enough with my fifth attempt and I hit the crossbar and I stubbornly didn’t want to lose the lift and pushed forward. Of course the yoke wasn’t weighed down so I just kept shoving it away. Took a bit to get my focus back and commit. Big breathes between reps. I got two more reps before I tried to short change the pick on one and it went back down to the ground. I recovered and managed to get two more reps before I had enough. Good performance and work put in here. Kind of helped alleviate some of the sting from my deadlifting woes. Last item for the day was a max distance for time effort. I was debating going home to use my car loaded up with weights again but figured I should just load up a prowler and do that. The tricky thing was trying to figure out how much weight to use to hit the goal of working the entire 75 seconds. I went too heavy on my first set. Hit a rough patch and the thing wouldn’t move anymore. 25 seconds short. Not good enough. So I reset the course and took 90lbs off to try it again. Success this time but man does this get tough. Stretched and then headed home to rest and recoup. Six weeks until show time.