April 10, 2018 – Week 9, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor Stationary Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
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 Push Presses
90x1
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
270x1
290x1
310x1
330x0

Pulldowns
70x15
130x5
160x5
190x5
220x5
250x5

Bench Presses
45x10
95x2
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
315x2
360x2
1 Second Pauses
300x5

Stretching

Comments: Trying to get more sleep. Constantly on my toes at work with the changes. Trying to get to bed earlier and been hitting snooze button twice in the morning instead of the usual once. Left inner thigh/groin/hip thing present. Trying to rest it as best as I can. No walking on my off days. Hard to break that habit. Icing in the morning and when I get home from work. Dropped one of the weight gain shakes since I’m not doing as much not walking. Stationary bike again as warm-up. Set it at one higher than what I stopped on last time for the full five minutes. Heartrate got up to 153bpm. Might have been a too much for the quads. But I usually go for a walk to help with recovery so that too. Calf raise work after that. Good. No issues here. Box touches with a wide stance after that. Hamstrings were super tight not the worst they have been. Then regular stance box touches. Hamstrings tight but not as much as the wide stance. Band rows after that. Good here. Noticed some tension. Probably from stupid heavy yoke and stones. Push-ups were ok. A little achy right shoulder. Hip airplanes were good. Felt ok. Biceps stretching followed that. Had to use a different bench to stretch but not much difference really. Log as usual. Last time doing this exercise for the cycle and goal again was a top single. Feeling beat by this point. I figured that I’d just do the 20lbs jumps starting at the empty log and see where I went from there. I noticed right away that my knee was feeling a lot better today. I was feeling pretty good on log. 310lbs the lockout was a little slow. Probably where I should’ve stopped for the day. But last time everything felt heavy and I hit 320lbs. I didn’t want to go for 325lbs and miss it so I went for 330lbs. Be the most I’ve ever attempted to press on the log. If I missed it, it would be a little bad but not totally defeating (unless it stapled me to the rack) and if I got it, it would be a huge PR. I gave it a solid effort. Up and drive. Log went out in front of me as it tends to do as it gets heavy but I felt like I was close to getting past the sticking point. But it came back on me and that was all she wrote. Close but not quite there. The good thing is it didn’t feel like death and impossible to even move. I feel it will happen this year for sure. Been knocking at 330lbs overhead for years as a goal. So halfway happy. Next up the usual pulldowns. Higher starting weight for the warm-up set and then 30lbs jumps up to the full stack. Sets of five for this last session of heaviest back work. I don’t really like the seat setup but it is what it is. 250lbs definitely at my limit for the day. Possibly from biceps emphasis on the sandbags and heavy stones but definitely feeling the right biceps a little if I got lax for a moment. I had been regretting not pursuing USS Nats with how the 453lbs stone went up Saturday but the little twinge reminder let me know I made the right decision. Bench to end the night. Plan being a top double but not quite a max. I had a goal in mind here but had to see how it felt warming up. After warm-up on the bar it was quarter-plate-quarter jumps up to three plates. Didn’t think that going up 50lbs more would be a less than max double today so decided to go for 360lbs. This is about what I wanted to hit last cycle before my arm got angry at me on stone of steel and it would tie my PR. Found someone to spot me (there were slim pickings) and the first rep flew up. I knew I had it for the double. Form got lax on the second rep but it went up strong. Happy with that. I was ready to pack up but remembered I was to do a another set of pauses for five reps. I felt 300lbs was doable and it was. Got burritos so that I could stretch, eat and then go to bed. Need to be well rested to finish out this training and to keep my head with the adjustments at work.