September 22, 2018 – Week 2, Day 3

5 Minutes Misc Stationary 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

Yoke
210xpick
210x50’ in 5.64 seconds
300x50’ in 5.80 seconds
390x50’ in 6.02 seconds
480x50’ in 7.07 seconds
570x50’ in 7.87 seconds

Sandbag Over Bar (60”)
200xpick
200x10

Keg Carry (turns at 50’)

150x2 (pick)

250x100’ in 18.57 seconds

250x100’ in 17.22 seconds

Plate Pinch Hold
90x84.14 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Managed to stick to the plan this time. Sleep wasn’t great this week so I didn’t walk Friday night to ensure I got to bed at a reasonable hour so that I could get up early and get things down so that I could be available for the rest of the day. Granted I went to bed 2hrs later than I should’ve, I still got enough sleep. Still cut things close though haha. May need to focus on earlier start as traffic seems better getting out to Lancaster to train. Right side of my lower back felt a little tender and my glute on that side kept on spasming. Not painful, just kept flexing. Warmed up on the ole’ reliable exercise bike. Nice and easy today. Calves felt good today. Not quite as springy as they feel some days but no issues. Goblet squats felt really good today. No joint issues, just feeling it in the muscles. Lower back was stiff though on RDLs. Felt that little spot where it felt tender on that first rep as I lost tightness trying to get full ROM. Fixed it up for the rest of the reps. Band rows were super easy and felt really good on the back muscles today. Push-ups felt ok. Maybe the second best they’ve felt this cycle. Plank is nothing really at this point. Got to keep everything flexed. Biceps stretches felt good, needed these today. Needed the hip swings today as well. First up was yoke. Knees felt a little achy and it had been over 2 months since I last did yoke. I didn’t want to just rush right into it, even though this was going to be light today. Even if it is light, it still is “weight”. Still in excess of my best squat so it’s going to be stressful. Just did a pick to make sure my knees were feeling good and I could go all out at the start. Yoke slides a lot on this floor but it will be the closest I can get to a convention center floor. Plan today was 60% of my best 50’ run with no drops, taking 100-50lbs jumps as needed. I figured that I could just do 90lbs jumps as that would get me to 570lbs which was a little over 6lbs above weight. Times looked good and I felt good on the yoke. I was a little slower on the pick-up perhaps but I felt I made up for it by picking up speed. Slightly faster on my under 400lbs runs from what I got on file. I put on my hard belt after that and I’m not sure if that threw me off or if that was just the weight threshold for the day but my times were about .5 seconds slower than my best. Fractions of a second and it may just be that the last cycle with yoke I was trying to control it more due to the floor and having to come back with it. I’m at a good place still. Next was sandbag. Not really been in the training since early part of this year. Really light for today. But I was cautious with things due to how sore my biceps had been from stone of steel and how long it felt it took to recover from that. Loads have been moved up to 60” because I’m better at extension now. 200lbs for a set of ten. I did a pick first to make sure everything was cool and then bathed in chalk before going. This was easy and yet difficult. The weight was nothing but it is a lot looser than the heavier bags so it feels soft and moves around on the extension part of it. I noticed this on my pick and the first rep and knew I needed to really shove it up and over violently to not have it plop on the bar. Leave no doubt. Just having it get to bar and back down isn’t going to cut it. Of course loading it over the bar made it so I had to walk to the other side of the yoke for the next rep. Not going to try and pull it back to my side with sore arms and back. Just take my time and make sure I was getting the load over the bar. Breathing was a little labored after that. Just under 2 minutes. Sometimes these longer sets help improve the timed sets conditioning wise. Then keg carries. Plan being two sets of 100’ with a turn at 50’. I’m good at distance, not so much speed. Another thing to time haha. I did a pick with 100lbs under just to make sure the arms felt good and that no issues with either side. Initially it was going to be staggered one way versus the other but I’ve found that to be inefficient when the object it speed and loading so I pop it up higher and do a parallel grip. So to work it both ways I adjusted with side I tilted the keg to pick it up. I started with the side I’ve been using since the biceps pull in January. It felt hard to breath with this thing. On the way back from the turn, I felt my stride lengthen and my speed improved. Good to see that that is also carrying over to these kinds of events. Little bobble at the end as I didn’t get it to stay on the mat. That would cost me at the show, which is why I’m practicing standing the keg up on a small mat. Right thumb got a little pinched on that set. Reversed sides for the second set. I thought this side wouldn’t be so good but I guess that wasn’t the case. Definitely my strong side it seems haha. Managed to beat the first set by over a second and have no bobble. Stride felt good. Still felt like it was hard to breath. The tight abdominal/hip flexor thing on the right side was present. It was after this that I noticed my stride has improved on farmer’s walk and front carries but I’m not seeing it as much on yoke. I’m not sure it is because I use heavier weights or if having something on my back alters the mechanics. Just something I noticed, maybe not a good or bad thing. Last thing for the session was grip work. Specifically pinch grip. Two 45lbs plates smooth side out and using both hands, hold for time. Never really done timed holds for this. Usually just messing around and doing one hand pinches. I think I’ve maybe done a two hand pinch with three 25lbs plates. My best one hand has been a pair of 45’s from a few years back but haven’t been able to replicate it. But I haven’t been serious about it like I was then. Goal was a minute and then be able to up the weight. I expected I would get a minute my first try but hard to say. I tried my best to not have my thumbs or the weight rest on my thighs to make it easier so slightly bent forward. Very close to a 90 seconds. Hopefully build up that thumb strength. Stretched before beating it home to do recovery stuff and clean up before heading out again.