March 15, 2018 – Week 5, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor 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

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Axle Push Presses
72x5
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
270x1
290x1

Squats to 16” Box
45x10
95x5
135x3
185x3
238.5x3
292x3
345x3
397.5x3
451x3

Wide Grip Deadlifts w/ bands (straps) (band tension = 99lbs)
155x2
245x2
325x2
325x2
325x2
325x2
325x2

Stretching

Comments: Tired. Still feeling beat from event work on Saturday will all the driving and the heavy stuff. Noticing I’m not needing the car buffer for as much as I was doing now so might mean improvement there. Still using it daily. Right hamstring still got me cautious. Warmed up on the AMT. 157bpm highest reading. Felt my legs working hard on these. Some days I feel it in the muscles, sometimes in the joints and sometimes not at all really, just moving. Right calf a little tighter than my left on the raises. It’s easy stuff. Hips felt tight on the wide stance box touches as well as my hamstrings. Box squats felt ok. Hips tight but felt alright on the knees and no issues with the hamstring. Regular style box touches felt ok. More hamstring stress with this style. Band rows and push-ups after that. Both felt alright. Right shoulder a little achy on the push-ups. Hip airplanes were needed. Hips were tight as well as my hamstrings. Finished up the prep with biceps stretches. Feeling alright here. Time to lift. First item up was axle push press. Same plan as it has been with warm-up and then 20lbs jumps. Log had gone well so I was hoping that this would be good too. It was not. Right knee hurt just unracking the empty axle. Now sometimes it just is really achy and it gets better as the sets go as I get more and more into the session but not really the case this time. At the time, not sure what it was. Maybe the right hamstring being tight is pulling something. The more likely thing might just be push press three times a week is getting to be too much as the weight increases. I was playing around with the drive trying to make it more hips than quad to see if that would alleviate some of the stress. Even with how my knee was feeling, I didn’t want to call it quits too early. In hindsight, I probably should’ve stopped at 270lbs as 290lbs was definitely tougher than I would’ve liked and very close to a grinding lift at lockout. The funky squat to box was next up. I was feeling ok here. More knee issues unracking than actually squatting as I can sit back. I’ve done this before. But also nervous with it. Triples this time with set percentages. The odd red clamps were back and they come out to 2.5lbs together so I was able to get close to the weights I had so did some half pound lifts haha. I was feeling I was moving well and fast. It wasn’t until I got through the first planned working set that I realized that I was to be doing controlled negatives so I squared that up after that point. I know it is because of less total reps each set working up but my top sets even felt like I had more in the tank and bar speed on the concentric looked better the first few reps too. Last rep of the set with 451lbs I felt my right hamstring “shift” a little but no pain just had me concerned a bit. Last thing for the day being the wide grip band pulls. I normally love these but today I was leery. Loads on the hamstring on the super controlled eccentric. Slow moving against bands just puts a lot of stress on the deadlift muscles I need to build. And that’s why I normally love this. But could be pushing it today. Trying to keep the same bar speed or better from last time with just 10lbs more. But I know I wasn’t going 0-60 off the floor with my hamstring acting up so I was gauging how it felt and then trying to apply more load before going for a pull. I didn’t want any slack back there. I think on the first working set I cut my right shin so I had to wrap my leg with tape to keep from bleeding everywhere. Really working on controlling the weight down and having the weight gently resting on the ground without losing tightness in my back or legs. Like a butterfly landing on a flower gentle. Home to recover, put Icy Hot on my knee and eat a tasty meatloaf. Really looking forward to resting this weekend.