May 8, 2018 – Week 1, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Box Squats
BWx25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Push-ups
BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Axle Clean and Jerks
75x1
95x1
115x1
135x1
155x1
175x1
195x1
215x1
235x1
255x1
275x1
295x1

Chest Supported Rows
100x10
150x10
200x10
250x10
300x10

Barbell Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
145x3
195x2
245x1
295x8
1 Second Pauses
245x8

Wide Grip Hang
bwx50.21 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I needed the week off for sure. Body felt all beat up until like Friday. Spine was achy, knees were achy. My teeth hurt haha. Left shoulder perpetually feeling tight. Went back to doing my 2 mile walks on Thursday and I feel better doing those. Bigger appetite and not feeling like a sack of crap. Didn’t really help my rest by turning over about 100 square feet of earth for my mother’s garden. This was pretty much the best time to do this. I forgot how rough that is, especially the upper body. Considering this training cycle is going to pick up where the previous one left as far as overhead work, it was going to be rough. Trying new stuff to see if things can be improved and keep aches and pains to tolerable levels. Not enjoying this weather for sure. Warmed up on a different exercise bike. Better seat and more ergonomic as far as handle placement. I had the options of doing “virtual” courses but I just went with training to get blood moving. Heart rate got up to 137bpm. On to the warm-ups. Calf raise stuff is still pretty easy. A little tight but to be expected. Then the big changes. No more box touches. Regular box squats. First rep my quads immediately got sore. Really crazy how fast they can become detrained when not doing squats regularly. Still a little tender in the thigh on the one side but not as bad as it had been. Lot of reps. New exercise after that. RDLs with a barbell and trying to get a good stretch and possibly reach the tops of my shoes. This will take a bit I think. My quads were really sore from the box squats so it was a little bit of fighting them to get set. Then more normal stuff like band rows and push-ups. Felt pretty good. Then a short plank hold. Easy but working on keeping everything flexed and tight. While not on the list, I did the biceps stretches just for my own peace of mind. Then another new but not so new one with hip swings. I’ve done these in the past to warm-up. Replacement for the other hip drill. Felt good. Much easier to do the front to back style as far as technique. The side to side needs work as far as the ankle mobility aspect. Then on to the weights. Up first axle. Plan here was start with empty axle and do 20lbs jumps by singles to a top weight. Top weight to be either a conservative weight or contest weight, whichever came first. I figured that even with not doing much axle work, I’d still be able to hit the contest weight (295lbs) with stuff in the tank. I was wrong. Now things started out well. Fast and snappy on the continental and going right into the jerk from the rebound of catching the axle on the shoulders. This was working fine up until 255lbs. That was when the weight felt substantial and it didn’t fly up and I had to let it settle before driving. My triceps didn’t want to cooperate at this point and it made for a soft lockout. Really really didn’t want to call it there. I had been push pressing 290lbs last cycle with stuff in the tank every session and had done 280lbs for five two cycles ago with a clean for push press too. I had kind of set contest weight as what I was going to do and had to do. Wrist wraps on for 275lbs. Went out in front of me but I got it. With the bumper plates, I had run out of room so I had to tear down and add more metal plates. This gave me a little breathing room to decide if it made sense to go for 295lbs or not. Legs felt heavy. Honestly my quads were sore just getting into position with the axle. Clean was tougher, really close to missing it and having the weight spin out of my hands. Took my time to get settled. Much easier to breathe with the axle on the shoulders versus log. Legs felt like lead and it went up but I was able to bring it back in line some. Now normally this is good but my triceps were dead from that gardening work still. It was real struggle to get the weight locked out. But it did. Not how I wanted to start things haha. Next up was chest supported rows. Been awhile. Didn’t do them at all last cycle due to I think the biceps issue. I was also uncertain how this would go. Plan being sets of ten up to a decent set that I could maybe do 12-15 with but stop at ten. Starting with 100lbs and going up 50lbs to 300lbs seemed the best option. Definitely trying to think of my hands as hooks so that I’m not tugging with the biceps. Upper back was super sore. Again from garden work. I managed the 300lbs so I got what I wanted and no pain. But still cautious on any pulling exercise. Then on to benching. Goal here being a top set of eight but plenty in the tank. Like two reps. I really wasn’t sure how this was going to go with how my triceps felt. Shoulders still felt strong so maybe. Benching actually felt good on my back. Quads were sore so I felt it every time I engaged my legs haha. Low rep warm-ups. I did 245lbs for a single and felt like 295lbs would be doable today. It would be doable normally but with my jello arms, who knows. They were definitely tired but I managed to push through the reps with something left. Of course I had to then do another set with pauses. Taking all my stretch relax powers away haha. Dropped 50lbs and did the set of eight with something left. Last thing of the day was wide grip hang for time. Barbell on top of the power rack and hang there. I figure extra grip work that won’t tax my back and hips like farmer’s walk as well as prepare for hercules hold in September. The wide grip definitely puts the stress on the hands closer to that then say normal grip or a farmer’s hold. Goal being a minute and if I reach that I can add weight. I was getting close but I know that under strain I will count faster. It was close but still about eight seconds shy. I like it. Home for meatloaf, stretching, car buffering and then sleep. I always forget how sore I feel the first week back after a heavy contest when I take a break.