October 7, 2017 – Week 8, 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

Yoke/I-Beam Farmer’s Walk Medleys
y-300x100’ in 10.79 seconds
500x30’/122x30’ in 11.26 seconds
600x30’/200x30’ in 12.28 seconds
700x30’/260x30’ in 14.57 seconds
y-750xpick
800x60’/320x60’ in 31.30 seconds

Sandbag Rows
150x5
200x5
275x6 PR+10lbs

H-Stone Carry (off platform)
Turns at 30’
303x60’
353x60’
Turns at 60’
403x166’10”

Sled Drags
405x192’4” in 75 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Definitely feeling the heavy box squats and lack of sleep upon waking. Work stress with current and future demands leaving little time to think when not at home. Lots of things to get thru today so no time to waste. Out to Lancaster to training event work. Apparently cool enough at the gym that they didn’t have the big industrial fan on. Meant I was going to be a sweaty mess so good thing I packed a towel and three shirts. George Pearson was there training for Master’s World’s Strongest Man in December. Haven’t seen him since May 2015 at the Kumite show. Warmed up on the rower. Felt pretty easy at the start but then got back to normal difficulty about halfway thru haha. Calf work was okay and the box touches for both styles were good. Squat therapy I was little achy but still pretty good. Hip airplanes were pretty good as well. Band rows and stretching followed. Easy one rows. Biceps were really tight so this was good on the stretch. Set of push-ups to finish things up. Felt pretty easy this time. Upper back on the left side was feeling sore and tight. A little worried with how heavy event work would feel. Medley work for Nationals with yoke and farmer’s walks. As I found out last week after weighing the implements, I found the farmer’s walk handles were 2.5lbs lighter than I thought they were and the yoke was 3lbs more than the lightest I thought it was. So I had to make some adjustments. The first set warm-up stayed the same. Fastest I’ve done it so far so that was good sign. No issues with the upper back but goodness was my lower body feeling like someone took a hammer to it. Lower back and hips were feeling it haha. Then setup half distance course again with both implements. Weight increased by 100lbs on the yoke compared to the last two times while farmer’s stayed about the same. I felt pretty good on the speed with the yoke despite the jump in weight. Times were at most a second slower compared to last time but again, yoke much heavier on each warm-up set. The second to last set of farmer’s walk, I rushed the setup as I gripped on handle in the middle while the other was towards the back. Felt weird but I powered thru it. Before the last set, another change made. Pick with a weight in-between the previous set and last set. It felt heavy. I was a little worried going into this last set. Brian I think said something about this is big time weights and I said something like I have to do it first. George then said that there should be no doubt and just do it. Helped me get my head on straight. Pick with 800lbs felt better than the previous weight and I felt I was movng pretty well until about halfway. Better transition into the farmer’s walk handles. These were a bear to pick up. Those handles rotating in my hands just suck. Much like yoke, once I was up and moving it was going well but again, I slowed down about halfway as I was trying to keep my grip secure. But I finished with no drops. About 3 seconds slower compared to last time but still good. I was pretty wiped from that but I still had a lot to go through still. Sandbag rows after that. Slight change in that the warm-ups to the top set were all sets of five so I could go a little heavier on those sets. The sandbags were all in a pile and the one I wanted for the first set was near the back. I tried to pull it out but that ended up being more of a hassle and my right biceps started to not like that. So I ended up being a little tentative with my reps on those first two sets. Last set, I wanted to go for another big increase. Compared to last time, just felt heavy and awkward. I should have re-read my training plan for today as I was only supposed to do five but did six. I’ll make sure I go for just five next time. Soft belt popped off one of the straps mid-set. And that was going to end up being a theme the rest of the day. Husafel stone again. A fairly big change on this one. Previously all sets were for max distance. This time, the two work up set were just for 60’ with turns at 30’ and only the last set being a max distance run. Working on the peak at this point. Hopefully a changeup that will lead to further improvements. I had gotten some more clarification on the husafel carry for Nats in that no grip aids (gloves, sleeves or tape) will be allowed as it is rubberized. Brian also had a chance to try one with very little weight in it and he said that my staggered grip might not work with how the lead shot shifts. I’ve trained with lead shot loaded husafel before so I don’t think it will be a factor but I figured it would be worth a shot to try this stuff out now rather than day of. Husafel came out 3lbs more than I had been using but it wasn’t worth it trying to get the exact weight so just did it with the extra 3lbs as I have been doing this whole cycle. First set I did front carry style. Yeah, that sucked. I was slow and felt like it was going to drop the entire time. Looking at the video, I probably should have bumped it up my body more so that I could a get a better grip. The next set, I went back to my stagger style grip. This thing is still pretty slick so I still moved much quicker compared to the previous set I didn’t feel as secured as I usually do. For the last set, I wrapped up with tape on the forearms and gloves. They won’t be allowed at the show but to get the most out of training on this one, I feel they are necessary. I’m certain I will get a pretty good grip with the rubber coating and chalk. Tape also keeps the bruising down on my forearm that gets painful. I felt like everything would go well for this last set but it did not. I was moving well but I felt my grip on my bottom hand already feeling compromised before I made it down one length. Well short of my best and even of my worst this training cycle. My forearms and grip had been feeling good after the deep tissue massage earlier this week. Felt disgusted with it but no time to dwell on it. Needed to finish up the session. Last item of the day was a max distance sled drag. I could’ve kept the weight the same as last time and just tried to get more distance but I wanted to do more weight. A lot more. Maybe I was pissed off about the husafel set. Added 40lbs to the sled and got set. Started slow and I worried I had made a mistake. But I kept going. Kept telling myself to keep the feet moving. There were several times where I was concerned with hitting a divot in the road made by either dropping the husafel or farmer’s walk handles. But I pushed on and got a better distance than last time with the increased weight. It ended up being like another exercise putting away all the equipment I had out. Decided I’d rather go home to stretch than stay at the gym. Stretched and then again had to cool off with an ice back on my neck. Really need to refuel and get some good, quality sleep this weekend.