January 30, 2018 – Week 10, Day 1

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

12” Log Clean and Push Presses
90x1
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
270x1
290x1

Stretching

Comments: The deload week is upon us again. Keeping an eye on the biceps. Icy Hot on Sunday for the shoulder and arm with a little massage. Got an adjustment done on Monday after work. Wanted to make sure my shoulder and neck were good. Hamstrings were sore from keg carries since Saturday haha. Some bruises on the right arm and a lot of them on the left arm. But just contact bruises. Adding fish oil, Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM and L-Glutamine to my diet/supplements. Hoping to improve recover, especially since I can’t take anything like ibuprofen while taking the medication prescribed by the doctor after the MRI. Warmed up on the AMT. I felt I was going at a good pace. Heartrate up to 158bpm. Calf raise work after that. Felt “bouncy” despite being tight. Box touches with a wide stance after that. Felt really nice and crisp. Then regular body weight box squats. Ok, some knee aches but still good. Then regular stance box touches. These actually felt pretty good. Band rows felt good. Push ups were good, shoulders tight and achy still. But better than it has been. Hip airplanes were ok. I had some balance issues getting into position but no issues actually doing the exercise. Then log. Only thing for today. As has been the case most training cycles with a contest component, ending with a somewhat heavy lift to start off the deload. Just singles taking 20lbs jumps. Before adjusting due to how beat I was feeling, the plan had been 290lbs for the top single. That got adjusted to 270lbs with the possibility of 290lbs depending on how that felt. I am still cautious with the biceps. Keg carries were brutal and made that arm work. I was worried I couldn’t even clean the empty log. Back up plan was to do it out of the rack with no clean but I wasn’t sure how this would go for the contest without that confidence I could clean it. If I couldn’t then maybe it wasn’t smart to compete at this point. And I’d hate to do that with all the work put in. So great anticipation approaching the empty log. I knew that I had to make the movement put the least amount of stress on the log so no bent arms. I knew it could be done. Straight arms and almost standing up completely with the log to get it into the lap. From there, roll it up and press. My biceps didn’t feel like it was going to tear off the bone so success? There were some aches in my forearm but I knew that wasn’t anything and kept adding weight. I was really trying to make every rep smooth and perfect on the clean. Right shoulder was a bit achy but since it was a push press it didn’t really matter. I decided to put on support stuff slowly. Soft belt at 210lbs. I then did the hard belt at 230lbs and I kept it loose as I wanted to make sure I was able to get a my air and be ready to jump up to the next weight with it tight. But I found to my surprise that keeping the belt loose made the clean so much easier. Enough that it didn’t feel like it took anything out of me as far as my lower body. So I kept the belt loose. Wrist wraps on at 250lbs. A little forward on the drive and had to walk the log back after the press to get it back on the bumpers. Chalk added to my hands for 270lbs. That went up with no real issues, just felt a little heavy on the chest. I sent a text to Mr. Westerling to see if I should go for 290lbs. I wasn’t sure if the goal was to hit something somewhat heavy or to just get a crisp easy single. I’ve been making it a habit to keep the phone on hand at workouts in case I have questions now during workouts. I was advised that if I knew I could do it, to do it. Say no more. I got set and pushed all bad thoughts out about my arm. Clean was good. If anything, I wasn’t ready for how quick it came up and I had to catch my balance before attempting the press. It felt heavy but it went up with minimal struggle. I didn’t feel like it was easier than when I did the double with this weight but I looked at that video and this rep looked easier. So that is a good sign. It can be hard rebuilding trust in an injured body part, especially with how taxed I am at this point in the prep. Home to stretch and eat like 20 chicken thighs.