March 24, 2018 – Week 6, Day 3

5 Minutes Schwinn Airdyne Bike

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

12” Log Clean and Viper Presses
Dumbbells
10’sx10
20’sx5
30’sx3
40’sx2
Log
100x1
120x1
140x1
160x1
180x1
200x1
220x1

Yoke
300x60’ in 6.96 seconds
400x60’ in 7.34 seconds
500x60’ in 7.83 seconds
600x60’ in 9.05 seconds
600x60’ in 8.88 seconds

Atlas Stones (tacky)
231x1 to 53.5”/237.5x1 to 53.5”/287.5x1 to 53.5”
295x1 to 53.5”/330x1 to 53.5”/365x1 (22”) to 53.5”
365x1 (22”) to 57.5”
375x1 to 57.5”
439x0 (22”)
439x1 (22”) to 53.5”

Stretching

Comments: Normally a day I look forward to and sometimes very anxious about. Training out in Lancaster with friends doing event work. Workout started out low and ended on a high. My mind and body were fighting me today but luckily I’ve had a lot of practice from experience dealing with those feelings. I was tired and slept in and my stomach wasn’t feeling so good. Not as bad as Wednesday but I ended up about 40 minutes behind schedule. Slipped on a patch of ice (hidden by the shadows) getting inside the gym so I took that as a sign to wear the copper infused knee sleeve today. Warmed up on the bike and that felt good. Calf raise work good and easy. Sumo box touches felt good. Hamstring really tight but no achy knees. Box squats my hips were tight but no issues with my knees. Pleased with that so far. Regular style box touches also felt pretty good. Just tight hamstrings. Band rows good. Push ups were great too. Hip airplanes were easy. Made sure these were slow and controlled. Got called out for “doing yoga” by a training partner haha. Stretched out my biceps on the yoke. Then the meat and potatoes of the workout. Log viper presses on deck. Warmed up with dumbbells like I’ve done in the past and then used the log. I didn’t realize how long it has been since I’ve done these. A little over nine months. As has been the case with my overhead pressing exercises, singles doing 20lbs jumps. Taped up my right shin after the first single as it nicked it a little on the healing scab. I was curious how these would go with my modified clean style and how my log overhead has felt. But it didn’t go so well. I was worried my hamstrings were going to blow off my leg. An irrational fear but I had to fight that on just about every lift. 200lbs felt a little slow but it was still going up nice and fast. 220lbs was not nice and fast. Usually this doesn’t happen until the next jump in weight for me. I knew it was a technique issue but I didn’t want to hammer in bad form going for more weight or taking the weight again. I at least hit the minimum on the training sheet and then it was on to the next thing. I was bummed about it but nowhere near the toll of say missing a big lift. Yoke next. 60’ runs with the aim being speed. Always trying to move as fast as I can on warm-ups anyways but with was more to get a little break from the heavy stuff before one more super heavy day before the show. 100lbs jumps up to the top weight of 600lbs for two runs. Knee was achy. I did a bit more “psyche up” then I’d usually do for these sets with this kind of weight. Again, my mind telling me my knee was going to explode and I wouldn’t be able to walk again. It gets exhausting fighting these doubts. 300lbs wasn’t as fast as I would like but usually my first run isn’t always at the top gear. Just using 25lbs plates today so that I could easily bring them in and out of the gym since I wasn’t going that heavy. I felt slow the whole time but I think that was because I was doing 10’ more than I’ve been doing for my runs. Right side of my upper back was feeling a little tender but nothing I can’t handle. First run with 600lbs didn’t start off great. I was quick off the start but that caused the yoke to tip forward and graze the ground a little bit before it balanced out. I felt I was too slow and kept telling myself faster. Just over nine seconds. I knew I could do better. I needed to do better. Second run I was a little more controlled on the start and picked up speed and finished under nine seconds. That last run was I think the only run that I felt was good. Now I didn’t know that all these times were improvements over the last time I did these weights for these distances at the time so I was just thinking so so right now. I didn’t realize they were personal bests until I checked my logs. Then it was stone time. Last time was a good refresher session. But I still had my doubts. At this point, I was worried my body would just fall apart. Arms would explode, back would explode, knee would explode, hamstrings would explode. I don’t usually have to deal with this much anxiousness but I manage to tamp it down as best I can. I couldn’t get the platforms as high as I wanted here like at Tyson’s Playground. Highest I could make it with enough space for three stone series was 53.5”. Still over competition height so it will work. Light series was all 18” stones. Wanted to work something light. Never actually done real stones at this gym. First stone went up easy and on to the next one. I heard someone shout “look out” and I shifted my head to the right as I figured the stone I had just placed was rolling back off the platform. But it didn’t really phase me and on to the next one. Pretty easy and I felt my transitions between the stones was good. A little dirty but not as bad as last time in VA. Medium series was a bit tougher. The ugly 20” stone that I made and the 22” light stone were part of this one. I could’ve put the egg shaped 375lbs stone at the end but I wanted to try the lighter 22” stone as the one at the end of the contest series will be 22”. No one had tried the 295lbs one yet and I’d never tried the new 22” stone. I wasn’t sure how I’d do with the 22” stone. Would it put more stress on my biceps? Would I remember how to lap this size stone? I couldn’t get my tacky to spread like I did for the first series but it held up well enough. First two stones went up well and I was actually pretty quick. I felt my foot speed was better compared to the equivalent series last time. 365lbs stone was easy to pick up (sealing job was perfect haha) but the extension was tough. I forgot how much harder it is to do these with the extension. Abs wanted to cramp up. So next thing was to do three heavy singles. With these doubts swimming in my head, the missed deadlift and how tough the 365lbs stone had felt to load, I went with the 365lbs stone again to 4” higher platform. I figured it would be easier this time with just the one stone and properly adjusting it, not going for speed. It was and I gave a couple middle fingers in celebration. So next up was the 375lbs stone. It’s a 20” stone but it is more oval shaped so it is wider one way versus the other. I wanted to continue with heavy weights and to get used to the wider stone so I did it with gripping it on the wide side. Definitely a bit dirtier compared to the 365lbs stone but it went up pretty easy. I had hoped to do the 439lbs stone today. That had been the goal after I got the 407lbs in VA so easy. I went back down to the 53.5” load height as I knew that I didn’t have that height in my today. Especially doing a 64lbs jump in weight. I get ready and attacked it. I think I surprised myself getting it off the ground as easy as I did that I didn’t trust myself and tried to lap it too early and down it went. I tried again but the tacky wasn’t doing it and I waved it off. But I still wanted it. If I could get it lapped. I was so close. So I went at it again and got it in my lap. It felt heavy when it was there. I got set and started to extend. Such a grinder. I just couldn’t get it up any higher but my friends’ cheering kept me going and I had it right at the lip of the platform. I switch from extending to pushing it. And it finally went up. I had a lot of emotion pent up that I let out. I usually don’t do that but it felt good. It wasn’t as clean as I would’ve liked it but it definitely is a step back to where I was with stones. Drove home and cleaned off before stretching and doing soft tissue work. Going to be sleeping hard tonight.