August 7, 2018 – Week 3, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor 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

12” Log Clean and Strict Presses (one clean)
90x2
115x2
140x2
170x2
200x2
230x2
260x2
220x5

12” Log Standing Lockouts
90x1
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
270x1
290x1
315x1 PR+5lbs
330x1 PR+20lbs

12” Log Overhead Supports
90x1
120x1
150x1
180x1
210x1
240x1
270x1
300x1
330x1
360x1
390x1
420x1
440x1 PR+10lbs with 14.68 seconds hold

Pulldowns
70x15
130x10
160x10
190x10
220x10
250x10

Incline Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
145x3
175x3
208x3
240x3
265x5
1 Second Pauses
232.5x5

Rope Triceps Pushdowns
140x15
140x15

Wide Grip Axle Hang
bwx15.80 seconds
bwx8.50 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Joints have been aching more. Not sure if that’s just because I’m back to heavy stuff again or if not taking fish oil for about two weeks is the culprit. Joints were achy even with it last training cycle. Made sure I got some “cardio” in with mowing my lawn on Sunday and going for a walk on Monday. It has been warm still but always seems to have it rain in the evening. This was going to be a long workout. Both fancy pants bikes in use so I got on another bike. Heart rate up to 138bpm I think at the highest. Calf work after that. They were tight for sure. Not feeling as difficult as they did on Saturday. Knees weren’t really bothering me on the goblet box squats too bad. Still trying to sit back and keep knee forward movement down on these. Knees were stiff on the RDLs but felt better as I did them. Rows with the band were ok. Right biceps was a little sore. Left shoulder is still tight and achy. Started slow with the pushups but got better as I went, much like the RDLs. Plank was easy as per usual. Then the much needed biceps stretches. Arms, shoulders and chest were tight. Into the hallway for the hip swings. Not bad today. It was then logapalooza. First up was log clean and strict presses. Same as last time but working doubles. Didn’t exactly do 30lbs jumps like last time as I wanted to warm-up light and then get to where 30lbs jumps would be good. Trying my darnedest to keep from bending my knees on these with the pressing. Too much of it on the top set last time. Plan for the double was to hopefully beat my current best of 250lbs and with how 245lbs had felt last time (even with the knee bends) I thought that 260lbs could happen. It depended on how the set before felt and looked. If bad, then maybe try for 255lbs. Forearms were a tad sore from event training so I was hoping that wouldn’t hold me back. But it felt good and got ready for it. First one up easy and slight struggle with the second rep. I wanted to make sure that one was as strict as I could make it. I felt there was another rep there so very happy with that. Should help with log and block pressing. Adjustment was made to the workout to include a down set of five reps as part of the online qualifier. 85% of the double was about 220lbs so that was what I did. First rep was super easy but it felt weird with more reps. I guess I hold my breath more on the strict style to brace my lower body and core. I think I’m finally getting the up and back motion down. It kind of clicked with the block press on Saturday. It still feels weird as it doesn’t feel like I have a solid way to grind out the weight but perhaps it will come with more practice. I then chained myself to the rack for rest of the log work. Lockouts from the top again. Same thing, single starting with the empty log and doing 20lbs jumps. Goal being 5-10lbs more than last time. I was really trying to not have the log going forward on these. I felt unstable on some reps working up and I’m not sure if that is from hitting the pull-up bar or from not using wrist wraps as points. I got to 290lbs and it felt tougher than last time. I went up 25lbs for the next jump to hopefully get a small 5lbs PR on this. I thought I could brace forward and then push back. That seemed to work and I felt good for more. So I went up 15lbs for a grinder of a lift. 20lbs over last time. Stripped the log down to empty again to work back up on the quarter overhead squat singles. Since I knew what I was capable of this go around, I went with 30lbs jumps on the way up. Knees were super achy and it took longer for them to feel good this session. Plan was like the lockouts to do 5-10lbs more on the top one with a hold and lower. I got the thought it my head that if 420lbs didn’t feel as tough as 410lbs did last week, I’d go up in weight. I was thinking 440lbs as that would be the most I’ve ever held over my head with the log. Just under 200kgs. It was definitely harder to balance than 410lbs was but I was able to get steady under it and controlled it back down to the pins. About 4 seconds shy of last time as far as time but still very good. Even trying to move fast with the rack work, it was already getting late. Pulldowns next. 5 sets with 30lbs jumps, aiming for 8-10 reps. I wanted to do the stack for the set of 10 for a two rep improvement so I planned accordingly. Left shoulder was a little tight and I was keeping an eye on the right biceps. Shoulder seemed to shutup on the warm-up set and right biceps only spoke up on the a few reps of the second to last set. I felt good for more reps with 250lbs. After that was incline bench. Wasn’t as fatigued in the upper body going into these this time. I was better prepared for what would happen. I forgot my microweights to adjust the weights to the right amounts so I just went with the closest I could get with regular weights and collars. Triples up to the working weight with was to be a rep or two shy of failure. Stopped at five which I think was right at it. Pauses felt heavier than expected. Looking at my logs, this was actually the heaviest I’ve done them since coming back from injury so maybe that had something to do with it. Or having all the rack work first made my wrists and elbows sore. Another five reps here. Remembered the triceps this time. Pump sets. I bumped the weight up 40lbs from last time with how easy 100lbs was. Still good for more reps on both sets. I was trying to take shorter rests but still recover. Last thing was bar hangs on the axle. This was the only thing that I didn’t improve on tonight. Left hand gave out first. I think the extra grip work from Saturday impacted this. Especially the farmer’s walk turn. There’s a lot of grip this training cycle and it can be hard to gauge recovery. Second set was even worse. These hangs with the rolling axle are so hard. It was really really late so I just went and got burritos and went home to stretch, recover and eat. Maybe sleep too.