June 6, 2019 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

18” Jack Stand Pulls

135x5

225x3

Added Suit

315x1

365x1

415x1

465x1

515x0

Added Straps

515x1

565x1

615x1

Kettlebell Goblet Squats
53x10

53x10

Hanging Leg Raises
BWx15

BWx15

Stretching

Comments: Survived the first workout. Shouldn’t be an accomplishment but you never really know. Definitely feeling soreness from the workout from not doing stuff for about a month. To be expected. Feeling a little tired from a little bit of staying up later than I should. AMT felt good. I’d usually do the bike this day but I figure with how much I sit during the day, I should stick to upright stuff for the warm-ups. Heart rate was up to 153bpm. So I think this will get better. The new warm-up stuff isn’t quite sticking yet. I got to keep looking at the list of things but I’m sure I’ll get it memorized in short order. Only thing of note from this was the squats had the muscles in my legs screaming. This happened when I first got back to training in 2016 from the injury and when I took off two weeks due to the flu in 2017. Not a good feeling but I know it will pass. Today’s session was going to have an intense part to it but afterwards would be smooth sailing. 18” deadlifts for today. Plan was to work up in 50lbs jumps after warming up and do singles up to 80%. Working on getting used to heavy weight again in a safer position for my lower back. I had asked if these were to be raw or not and answer was kind of up to me. I figured I’d do the suit work since that meant more weight and I’d be using one at NY Record Breakers and Fullkester. My best every is 765lbs in the gym so I set that and 612lbs was 80% so I went with 615lbs as it was easier math as that meant I could start my singles at 315lbs. Not getting as much pop from 18” compared to 16” or 13”. Out of practice. Literally the second time I’ve done this this year. My form was garbage last time but at least I knew my back could hold up to deadlifts at that time. Using a barbell in the jack stands so didn’t have to wear straps to start. Not the best knurling on the one I was using. Felt tempted to see how my grip was on these. A little out of practice. I think with chalk I’d have got 515lbs my first attempt without the straps. Straps on after that. It can be hard to tell how much the percentage feels with the suit as the weight still feels heavy but moves faster. I’ve said that before. I’m not at my best here. Might have been heavier than what was anticipated for 80%. I definitely feel that 100lbs more was doable but not 150lbs. So probably closer to 85%. I didn’t wreck myself or get stupid and do a max single. I set a limit and stuck to it. After that was lighter stuff. Kettlebell goblet squats for two sets. Easy stuff. Goal was to focus on the form. Keep chest up and push knees out to open up the hips and groin. I paused these in the hole a breath just because I felt like moving really fast wouldn’t be great for form. Especially since I’ve done very little squatting since the reinjury in December and the fact that all of my squatting since 2016 has been to a parallel box or higher. I got the ROM and the strength but control might not be the best right now. It was easy though so that is good. Last thing was hanging leg raises. Seemed to be a distinction between these and what I was doing with the knee raises. I wanted to try them so I hogged the lifting station where I was doing the 18” pulls so that no one used it so that I could use the pull-up bar to try these out. Not quite tall enough for me to hang and doing leg lifts but better. Still have to reset each rep to keep from swaying and having momentum help me. A bit awkward but they definitely helped deload my spine a bit. Home after that for stretching, food and icing my knees.