January 25, 2018 – Week 9, Day 2

5 Minutes Percor AMT

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

16” Box Squats
BWx15

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx10

Hip Airplanes (supported)
BWx5/5

Deadlifts
135x5
225x5
Added Straps
315x1
405x1
495x1
585x1
Removed Straps, Added Suit
135x1
225x1
Added Straps
315x1
405x1
495x1
585x1

Three-way Pulldown Abs
110x10/10/10
110x10/10/10

Stretching

Comments: Biceps feeling a bit better each day. Still not trusting it fully on some things. Right shoulder still tight and bothersome but not as bad I guess. Didn’t need Icy Hot since the last workout. I plan on getting soft tissue work and an adjustment done assuming this week goes swimmingly. Hopefully that resolves the issue. This workout could be really short one or a long one depending on how things went. And short could be good or bad. Warmed up on the AMT. Up to 152bpm. No real feeling of the biceps cramping this time. Then calf work. They were tight but this was still pretty easy. Then the trio of wide box touches, box squats and regular box touches. Felt snappy on the wide stance box work. Little achy in the lower back and right knee. Knee was only slightly achy on box squats. Felt I had good control and power here. Regular style box touches gave my lower back a good pump. Band rows and push ups were good. Band rows were easy and felt nice. Right shoulder achy on push-ups. Hip airplanes went well. Definitely need them today. Then on to the workout. Deadlifts again. This workout got modified with how things went two weeks ago to be another heavy pull session with regular deadlifts rather than variations. Idea to be finding what will work best for the contest. Workout could go two ways but each started out the same. Deadlifts without a suit up to 585lbs for single to start things off. Plate jumps. No suit pulls feel much more natural to me. Straps and hard belt on at three plates to get used to contest setup. I didn’t have the belt tight enough that first set and it popped off haha. 495lbs didn’t move as well as I would have liked to have another 90lbs to go. 545lbs had been the most I’ve done without a suit since the injury. No reason I shouldn’t get 585lbs with all the work put in and the familiarity of the movement with heavy weights. But I was worried that the suit was doing all the work the last few sessions and I didn’t improve the raw pull. But this session was to determine the truth. 585lbs felt slower than it looked. Felt smooth other than being heavy. Not quite a max effort. But it did give me my answer on where to go from here. Raw strength is increasing even with the suit work. The two paths had been to do top suited pull raw (610lbs) or drop the weight down again and build back up in the suit. I couldn’t guarantee that I could get 610lbs and I knew that my pulls with the suit at 585lbs were easier (still taxing) so no brainer to go with the additional suit work. Third session and I feel I’m getting better at getting it on just right. Still draining and exhausting in this thing. Still fighting from being folded over but I had no real issues getting to the bar this time. Lots of pressure. I did feel a little of the sensation I felt last time with the rack pulls on the left side but really minor and didn’t get any worse. I felt like the pulls felt heavy but video says they were moving at a good clip. I think 50lbs more was possible today. It will be interesting to see how this goes with a deadlift bar at the show. Last thing for the night was abdominal work. Pulldown style with rotation again for higher reps. I went up 10lbs more over the top set just because. I think I’ll stick at this weight from now on. Hard on the hands that first set but good work for the abs. I took a little break and chalked the edge of my hands and that made it feel much easier. Maybe easy enough that I need more weight to make this feel like work. Home to stretch and eat.