July 26, 2018 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

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

16” Box Squats
45x10
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x1
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

12” Log Chest Supports
90x1
140x1
180x1
230x1
270x1
320x1
370x1 with 28.95 seconds hold

Walking Lunges
BWx10/9 (can’t count)

Rope Triceps Pushdowns
100x20
100x20

Smith Machine Weighted Plank
BW+155x30 seconds
BW+155x30 seconds

Side Plank
BWx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: That first workout was a doozy, like jumping out of a moving car and trying to keep running. Lower body wasn’t feeling too bad but the soreness in my upper back was exquisite. Just keeps raining so no walking Wednesday night. Worried I was going to fall asleep at the gym. On the bike for warm-up. 147bpm highest reading this time. Easy calf work after that. Knees weren’t really bothering me on the goblet box squats too bad. Got a bench this time. Knees were stiff on the RDLs at the start but felt pretty good after that. Feeling the hamstrings and they are tight. Rows with the band were good. Left shoulder is still tight. Come to expect/accept that at this point. But maybe it will go away like the hip pain did from the Beast of the Bluegrass training cycle? Controlled on the push-ups. Plank was easy and slightly more ache in the shoulder this time compared to Tuesday. Then the biceps stretches. Definitely needed those. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Felt pretty good. Quite a few things on the menu for today but nowhere near as many as last workout. First was box squats. The rack was in use but the guy using it let me do my workout instead. I had told him it was no problem for me to wait but he insisted. Nice of him. Anyways, plan was to work up to 5x3 with 50%. I just kept the camera running and put the weights on and got back under bar for the next set. Quads were getting sore right away. I was expecting this to be rougher from taking a break from the squats last cycle. Even with the air conditioning fixed, I’m still a sweaty mess. I was going to do 265lbs for my work sets (basing off 530lbs) but 225lbs felt super easy. So Decided to keep with the quarter, plate, quarter jumps and just put on 275lbs. Actually wasn’t too bad with this weight. Probably a little more than 50% but I felt in control and it moved fast like I wanted it to. This was my first time trying regular box squats in this particular power rack so it was a little off-putting at first. Good sweat going and legs were pumped. On to the next thing. Log chest supports. Last time I did these was training for 2017 SC Nats. This time, just singles. Idea was to do it from the pickup at the bottom of my leg drive for log push press. The rack heights are pretty big jumps so I went with the height I used to just be able to lift it right off the pins and then walk it out to press. 5-7 singles so I started with the empty log like last workout and did quarter, plate, quarter jumps. At least I started with that until I got to the last set. Definitely have to get my head back to really keep the heavy weights racked. Plan was 30-50lbs over my push press out of the rack. I figured I’d try and push for the top end as the last one was to have a hold for time until my form started to break down. 370lbs was a big ask. Felt like it was going to come back onto the pins as soon as I got it up. Weight felt crushing. Felt it was compressing my body just standing there. Didn’t beat my hold time PR but that was to the max and this was until I felt the shakes and started to have my upper back fold. It was longer than I thought I held it up there in my head so that was good I guess haha. Next was something that was to be easy; walking lunges. Just bodyweight to start and break in to it slow. I had no idea if my creaky knees would let me move that way. I was fully expecting knees to be aching to the max. But no issues. It felt good. Ok, one issue, I messed up my counting and was one rep short. Next was to be planks; but I had some unfinished business. The long workout on Tuesday had been long but I had missed an exercise. I was to do two sets of rope triceps pushdowns. I realized my mistake when I walked in and saw someone doing them and wondered when I was to do them (I remembered seeing them in my workout plans) and saw on my sheet that I was to do them on Tuesday. So this felt like the time to do them. Light reps (15-20) just to get some blood flowing. Haven’t done triceps pushdowns since they got rid of the older cable towers so had to just test the waters and see what the stack felt like. 100lbs felt light but challenging enough for the tax. I got more pressing coming up this week so I plan to do more weight next time when I know I got full recovery ahead. Then it was plank time. Doesn’t get any easier with this weight on the smith machine for these. But I know they are helping me. Side plank was surprisingly difficult on my injured side this time but I managed the minute. Other side was better. No cramping feeling. I got done sooner than expected from working through the two heavier things and there was still sunlight when I left the gym. Home to stretch, recover and eat meatloaf.