Comments: I wasn’t feeling motivated. It’s a deload week
and the work is less and less as the week goes on. Some family issues made the
previous 24hrs kind of stressful. Even with that going on and body aches, I’m
generally feeling happy and in a good mood. I can’t say that is always the case
and that doesn’t mean that I don’t continue to doubt myself at every turn. But
that funk seems to last less than it usually does. It took a bit to get myself
up to go to the gym after work. I was debating taking the day off and going the
next day but I figured that it was better to do this now so that I gave more
time for the rest week before the competition.AMT felt ok , heart rate was only up to 146bpm. It was lower for a good
bit of it and then went up at the last moment. Ended up going downstairs to do
most of my warm-up stuff. Saw some people I haven’t seen it a bit. Box squats the
only exercise for this workout. I wore copper knee sleeves as my knees were
aching, mostly the right one. Everything felt stiff and tight. I guess I got
used to the three week rotation. Set weights and reps here. I just kept my
camera rolling the entire time so that I could try and work through it quickly.
Quarter, plate, quarter jumps was the plan, working up to 365lbs for a double.
I guess the most weight I’ve squatted in a while but should be nothing compared
to all the reps I was doing with weights below this. Trying to not get hyped
really. Last two sets I had on a hard belt. I didn’t use the belt I usually use
for box squats as it seemed overkill for this session. Stomach bloat seems to
be down enough that I was able to get the 2nd notch on the belt
without feeling like I was going to pass out. Weights seemed to move well
despite feeling slow, achy and tired. I have to remember that this is what the
peaking process feels like. Feel like crap physically and mentally and come in
to crush it. Home to eat first and then spent a good deal of time stretching
out. One last workout and then hopefully a week to really recharge.
Comments: Deload week is finally arrived. Well, one of
them I guess. Really not sure how the rest of this training is going to be with
the plan on three competitions each about a month apart. There was supposed to
be one for the USS Nats prep but that didn’t go as planned. I had a deep tissue
massage on Monday and was able to get 90 minutes since other appointments in
the evening canceled. Score. I really needed that. I feel like I needed that
last time I went too. Felt a fair deal more relaxed. Got a fair amount of
tension out of the problem areas. Still got aches and pains but I guess not as
bad. I took off the tape for my fingers. Undecided if I’m going to keep that
follow up at this point. Should be a fairly quick workout. Warmed up on the
AMT. I felt good. Heart rate really jumped up there at the end to 160BPM. Not sure
what that was about. I guess I do feel like I had a workout after deep tissue
work. All the movement stuff and stretches after that. Felt fine. Today the
plan was work up in doubles on log clean and push presses as long as it felt ok
on my fingers. Otherwise, switch it to rack stuff to finish up the day. I had
felt good last time I did log, hitting 290lbs for a triple and hitting 270lbs
for a strict single before that. Goal was a top double that I felt I could do.
With those numbers, how could I not hit 300lbs for a double? I did a bit more
dumbbell warming up to make sure that shoulders and knees felt good and the
motion wasn’t bothering my fingers. So far, so good. I think the weights were
easy on the working up but perhaps my body awareness and the clean kind of
throwing me off a little. I essentially had to strict press the second rep of
240lbs as I got off balance. I knew I had 270lbs there and I probably should’ve
stopped there. I setup the log for 300lbs. I’ve never repped 300lbs on log in
training. I waited to see what song on the radio was going to be after the commercial
and it was Thunderstruck so I felt like if I was going to get it, this was
going be now as that was my song. Yeah, not the best. I got a solid single but
the double just wasn’t there today. Stupid of me really. Didn’t get injured.
Cleaned up and headed home to stretch and eat pot roast. I want to say it didn’t
irk me but it did. This contest coming up I’m not doing a press event so
nothing really lost there as far as deload for that show but I still shouldn’t
be missing weights. I just really have to hope that I will be fully rested and
truly show my potential at the contest. I don’t like thinking that I have to
keep numbers from the injury relapse as it was hard enough “resetting” things
for the initial injury. This week and next will hopefully let me catch up on
rest.
Comments: No walking this week. Monday because I wasn’t
feeling well and Wednesday and Friday for social things. Despite all evidence
pointing to sleep being the most important for recovery from day to day stuff,
I still don’t make it happen. There is just so much to do in the day it seems.
I got to sleep a little earlier for getting rested up for Saturday training.
Again, not a long one really as just doing two things again. This honestly
could’ve been a workout I did at home but I had my reasons for traveling to
Lancaster for it. Traffic accident near my house meant that I was stuck for
about 10 minutes in bumper to bumper conditions. GPS told me to take the
Turnpike but I wasn’t going to be spending more money to go train. I knew it
would clear up once I got past the accident. But it is really getting old
having this kind of slowdown almost every weekend this month. There were a
decent number of people at the gym but like only three doing strongman. I didn’t
expect this many since a large number were competing this weekend and the gym
owners were out there too. Warm-ups felt okay. I had the compression socks on
more for possible shin protection as a fair number of contests are specifically
indicating this is required so that there is no “blood on the bar”. Kept the
knee sleeves off at least. Did the switch strides every 75 seconds again. That
seems to be the best thing to both have the knees feel ok and me not getting
super bored walking in place. Not like the AMT at the Y were I can get a quick
HR check every so often or do it without the hand motions. Movement stuff felt
ok. Knees ached a little at the start of some things but that went away fairly
quick. On to the actual workout. Finger issue kind of threw everything into a
lurch so this meant that this was going to be my last deadlift session before
the contest. Plan was to work up to 90%. Normally, I wouldn’t worry about
things and I’d just use my setup at the gym as I tend to pull less with my
setups then when it matters at the show. I think the only time that wasn’t true
was Beast of the Blue Grass last year but that was less me going for my best
and trying to get/not lose points. I can say I had more than the 755lbs I hit
that day, just not 805lbs I had tried. However, with not getting to do my last
attempt at a heavy 18” pull, I figured I needed to see how things felt with as
close to contest conditions as I could make it. That meant having the setup be
on blocks, use a deadlift bar and use 100lbs plates. I had to use straps on
every set so that I didn’t bother my finger any more than I had to. I felt slow
and not like I was getting my hamstrings into it at all like I usually do. This
setup is a lot more of a pain then using a rack or my jackstands. Goal was
trying to keep my shins vertical and not have it be too far in front of me.
Went plate, hundo, plate jumps to 645lbs. This had been the weight I opened at
in March at the last one of these and then proceeded to not get 735lbs off the
blocks. Mike was there (another reason I went to Lancaster) to help me get the
straps tighter. He’s going to be at the same competition so this worked out. I
don’t know, I just felt like it wasn’t feeling as tight or fitting how it
should to get the most out of it. Maybe riding up the legs too much to stretch
the fabric in the hips. I know it’s tight as feel a lot of pressure when I
finish a lift. Probably help more on a floor pull or lower as I can feel it
fighting the hips and I can get a pop. Stuff feels heavy in this thing and
feels slow sometimes too but the video says it is fast. Plan here was 645lbs
and then hopefully go for 685lbs to 725lbs. This being the range of PR (760lbs
for 5lbs contest PR, and 805lbs being a goal I’ve wanted on this). But 645lbs
didn’t feel poppin’ fresh. Some stress on my finger but it seemed to go away
fairly quick. This was not the weight I wanted to be stopped at but I need to
be smart. I sent video to Mr. Westerling (not the best filming with my phone
the viewing screen of my camera but it was important) to see if I should be
calling it there. After some discussion, it was decided I go for 660lbs for the
last single. That was about 90% of what I felt I could hit as an absolute max
today and was also 90% of the heaviest I’ve hit this training cycle. Finally
felt my hamstrings engage. Felt slower but that may have been from the downtime
figuring out the next step. Last item was more conditioning based. The idea
here was sled drags for ten sets of 100’ with a minute rest between sets. The
key thing was having these not use my hands so that required using a belt squat
harness to hook stuff up. I’ll admit, I made things more complicated then they
needed to be. I could’ve just used one of the drag sleds and put weight on it.
But no, I wanted to get all weird and fancy so that I didn’t need to use that
much weight. I was advised that this was not a sprint or walk pace but to be a
power walk pace. I had heard people using a tire for low weight, high drag and
resistance on things and also know that chains can make this resistance tougher
too. So I combined them all into this like 12’ long dragging implement. I
honestly don’t know if I could’ve moved this thing any faster if I wanted to. I
had thoughts about doing a little warm-up on the treadmill with it off but I figured
that I was going to be doing 1,000’ so I was going to get warmed up at some
point during it. This was tough but I knew I could finish this. Most of that
minute was active rest turning it around. So about 20 minutes of sled dragging
as the quickest I finished was 51.68 seconds that first run and 70.40 seconds
on the last run. This was a lot drag for such light weight. The one connecting
chain I used that got the brunt of it was almost worn through. My legs got that
bee sting feeling bending my legs so I avoided that as I put stuff away and
finally stretched out to drive home and ice my knees. Not dead but I’m feeling
the least prepared for a contest in a long time. Missed out a month of stone
and farmer’s stuff and essentially the same for deadlift though more
workarounds. Stones has probably been the worst I’ve ever done. I keep thinking
that these contests that are months out that I’ll be able to be ready and
progress a ton on everything but it doesn’t seem to be. I have to stay
positive. I have to remind myself that I had an injury relapse a little over
eight months ago and the last time I had that same injury, I was out for 7 months
and back in the gym lifting just the bar was difficult.
Comments: No walking Wednesday as I had plans. Friday not
looking so good either so I’ll have to make up for it in the coming weeks if I
can. Otherwise I may be coming in a little heavier than 275lbs. Not that I mind
much but it will mean that I may need to requalify for USS Nats if I want to do
that at the under 275lbs weight class. But whatever I’m my best at then so be
it. This workout was going to be short since still restricted on what I can do.
I ended up coming home after work as I wanted to sleep in so that meant I
needed to come back to get gym stuff ready. I did a pot roast so I could use
that as an excuse to set it on warm when I got home. My stomach wasn’t pleased
with me as I was feeling bloated and had the burps. I think it was because I
was working too much and didn’t drink as much water as I usually do during the
day and then tried to make up for it after work in like span of 10 minutes. Eh.
Figured I’d see if this workout would be fine without the compression socks and
just knee sleeves if needed. Trying to gauge how things are feeling and idea of
what my actual soreness and achiness is day to day. It just may be taking
longer and longer for me to heal from things than I would like and I don’t
think some of the supplements I’ve been taking are really worth the money. Forearms
still mildly sore and knees ache. Shoulders kind of achy too. Self-conscious about
that haha. Really need that deep tissue massage on Monday. So to the gym. The
usual AMT to warm-up.Heart rate up to 144bpm.
I kind of expected to be higher with how I was feeling. Movement prep stuff
felt surprisingly good. I had to wait
for the squat rack to open. I had started setting things up on the other one
but the guy noticed I was going to be doing squats and moved as otherwise I’d
have to quarter squat stuff up to start. Front squats with chains to start. Same
as before with the setup, just 25lbs more. I knew it was going to be important
to get more sets with the hard belt on to keep me from feeling like I was going
to pass out. It’s tough to balance doing enough to warm-up and enough that won’t
overdo it for the working sets. The gut bloat wasn’t helping today as I’d have
to cinch it too tight to get it into the second buckle. Usually that isn’t a problem.
So just one buckle hole it was. Even with the single with the belt on, I think
the weight just isn’t pleasant and I’m not used to it yet. Felt like I was
going to lose consciousness but I didn’t. Nowhere near as bad as last time.
Second and third set were better. My left quad was twitching before I did my
heavier stuff. Abdominals felt tight after the second set. Making me paranoid.
No issues at all on the third set. Last set, best set I guess. No deadlifts so
abdominals to finish up. Last thing was the back raise bench abdominal stuff as
has been the case. Same reps and sets as last time. I was tempted to add some
weight or something but this was fine today. I was feeling some tension in my
right lower abdominals so probably best that I stuck with the plan here. Fairly
early end to night, even though I arrived like 45 minutes later than I should’ve.
Home for stretching and Mississippi roast.
Comments: I had to take a moment to slow down on Monday.
I was feeling stressed and had feelings that could become an actual cold. So
ended up just doing stuff around the house Monday and eating good food. No
walking, wanted to get to bed early as I could to see if that helped. It did
and I felt a lot better. Knees still achy. Left forearm still sore. Really
getting old. Didn’t bother with the compression socks of copper sleeves today as
it was going to pure upper body. Warmed up on the AMT. Heart rate peaked at 154bpm.
It had gone up pretty darn fast at the start so I’m surprised it didn’t go
higher. Did about half the movement prep and stretching upstairs and the other
half downstairs. Kind of the same workout as three weeks ago but not really.
Close grip benching with chains again. Plan was to warm-up and do 250lbs for
five triples. 25lbs jump from last time. It has been 20lbs jumps previously. I
figured I’d see how I was feeling and go from there if I was going to use wrist
wraps. 50lbs jumps was the easiest thing to do and it required less time
between sets. Bigger jumps don’t always feel that great though and usually the
first work set feel rough. Right shoulder was feeling “crinkly”. Not pain, just
didn’t feel smooth. I seemed to move better as I went and I took about the same
rests on all sets. I feel like if I had to go heavier, that I’d maybe have more
pause before proceeding. Sometimes stuff just feels weird and I have to be
mindful of things for tracking purposes. So I did the weight and reps and other
than that first set, moved well enough. Just would’ve preferred the shoulder
not feel weird and make me paranoid. After that was the chest supported rows. Not
the one arm stuff this time. I was allowed to do regular style but I had to
wear straps to keep finger strain to a minimum. These were awkward feeling. I
didn’t have the proprioception I usually do with the straps taking my grip out
of it. Usually that isn’t an issue on most things but I think because I was using
figure 8 straps to make it so that I could support the weight on my wrists if
necessary contributed to that. I really had to play around with the positioning
of them set to set. First two light sets I felt there was too much slack being
left at the top and I didn’t want that point to be extra stress on the biceps
in a bad spot. Seemed to correct that for the last two sets but still felt
really weird. Not being able to grip it as hard I think made this feel unnatural
and was in some ways harder. Thankfully, this was to be up to a moderate weight
so I did about 80% or so and that was as much as I wanted to do on these today.
Last thing was triceps exercise. The initial
plan was to do some bench dips as that would hopefully not bother my fingers.
But I was given the caveat that I could do something for 3x8-10, my choice if I could do something
that wasn’t bothering the finger. I tested the standing tate presses again and
I found I could do them without engaging the finger to hold or clean it. I like
these so I figured I’d do them again. Ended up sticking with the 65lbs
dumbbells for these after that first set felt rough. I would’ve liked to push
it but I feel this was fine and challenging enough across all sets. Home to stretch,
do what I can for recovery stuff and eat dinner before going to bed. Looking
forward to that massage I have scheduled for Monday next week.
Comments: Another early Saturday. Well the plan was to do
that but I didn’t. I stayed up too late for reasons and that meant I’d need to
sleep in a little bit to make sure I was rested. My stomach was bothering me
when I got up so I waited until that settled. Sleeping in 2hrs didn’t help as I
was out of it. I almost put my ice packs for my knees in the dishwasher instead
of the freezer. I got to thinking about my competition history as I got a “this
happened 2 years ago” and was the contest I did right after I came back from
the injury. I didn’t think it had been such a short time to be honest. It feels
longer. So I got to be mindful of that. So I got a little nostalgic. But I
needed to go train. This day was going to be much shorter than usual with the
finger issues so it was ok to be late today. Well construction the road had
other plans. Meant I had to take a 20 minute detour (albeit interesting one, I’ve
worked in the city for close to 10 years and I haven’t seen most of it) and
have my drive out take considerably longer. It was nice and sunny out when I
started and then torrential downpour. Ugh, I had literally two things to do
today and outside was kind of needed for the one. Knees aching like crazy the
past few days. I actually used my car buffer on my knees, quads and calves
before I left for the gym. Fair number of people training, which was good. I
was worried I’d miss everyone. Caught up on stuff and moved on eventually. Knees
seemed ok for most of the warm-ups stuff. Did the switch strides every 75
seconds again. Knees were achy on some of the movement prep stuff. My hope was
that after I got warmed up, it wouldn’t be so bad. My left forearm muscles were
still not that pleased with me so I ended up putting the copper elbow sleeve on
that arm and the knee sleeves on my knees as well. First thing for the session
was viking press. I did some overhead stuff with dumbbells as that seemed good
last time. Got a bit better on the movement. So plan for today was doubles up
to a weight I could do for 8-12 reps. I was hoping I was feeling good so that I
could do 50lbs jumps and end up with 300lbs on the implement to end out the session.
I was feeling good on this today. Maybe
I hit a breakthrough from getting that PR triple on log press. I was just
thinking as I was doing them that this felt easy and it had been difficult last
time. When I did +250lbs like nothing, I started to think that the next jump
was going to be too light but I didn’t want to get cocky. I checked to make
sure the rep range (I wanted to see if I was given a 2 rep or 4 rep range).
When I say that I could go as low as 8 reps, I decided that if +300lbs felt
like nothing, I’d go up more, just maybe not another +50lbs. It didn’t feel
that tough, like I could get 12 with little effort. Now I had set the bar high.
+80lbs from last time’s rep set. I could do well or suck. I’m really not sure
what happened on these from last time to this time but I was like a machine. I
used the apparatus to my advantage this time and got 8. Did I dare go for more?
So close to a dozen, I have to try. Boom, got it. I was really pumped from
that. I really hope that this is actually improvement in my press as I feel
like even if this event isn’t contested, this may be a good assistance
exercise. Last thing for the day was vehicle push. Finger issues (I feel I can
still do it but I’m not to be trusted) means no grip stuff or sandbags. So like
last week, meant three sets of this instead of the usual one. I wasn’t
expecting much out of me. My legs were tight and stiff. The work around was
kind of genius for if it was still raining. The back-up plan had been to do
pushes on the treadmill while it was off and just use that resistance. I liked
that idea so much I tried it out to warm-up a little. I wanted to see if it
felt the same it did. The sun had come out and dried up all the rain so it was
darn blazing hot out by this point but it meant I could push the truck. Mike
had been kind enough to stick around so I could push his truck again. It’s my
favorite for pushing with the weight and the handholds. Don’t have my face
sucking in exhaust the whole time. I didn’t want to take super long rests
either, treat it similar to how I did the vehicle drags last week. That was
less taxing. Good leg work and really putting my body into these. As with the
drags, I got further each time, despite more and more fatigue. I figured that
the set has three phases; the start, the build-up and the grind. The start
takes short, choppy movements to get it going then I can get into taking longer
strides. About half way in is when I generally hit the grind phase, where I
keep pushing and use the momentum built to just keep putting one foot in front
of the other until time expires. Good bit of leg work today. Stretched and
helped out a bit before putting my weights away and driving home to get ready
for family dinner. Getting close to competition time. Just one hard week left
really.
Comments: I got tired again. Knees have been achy this
week but I feel the benefits I get from walking outweigh the discomfort. And I
don’t know if walking is doing that to me or not anyways. But I was tired and
this meant I slept in and didn’t have time to get my things ready for the gym.
I was getting out of work early due to medication check so I figured I could
get home at a reasonable time and then go to the gym. Didn’t really work out
that way as I got home about the same time. The workout wasn’t to take too long
considering no deadlifting right now so I put a roast in the oven before I left
to make it so that I got to the gym and back within 90 minutes so it didn’t
overcook. Motivation right there haha.AMT felt Ok but my heart rate was up to 158bpm during the last minute. Ended
up going downstairs to do most of my warm-up stuff. Good thing as I had someone
wanting to take apart my setup on the squat rack. Box squats again. Really that
was everything for this workout besides back extensions and planks. Continuing
the climb in weight for this higher rep set. Had been 50lbs then 40lbs and now
35lbs. Despite feeing stiff in my knees and my right inner thigh, these went
well. I did seem to overstress my left forearm picking up plates. I guess that
one arm row stuff was harder on the body than I had thought. Pretty sore, maybe
a good thing I’m not doing the farmer’s walk and holds this week because of the
finger. 315lbs went up easy. I felt like 15 reps had to happen. I started to
think that was me being overconfident and I thought do 16 instead. 16 seems to
stick as that is really the only metric I got for higher rep squats with the
barbell from those years ago. I thought I was going to gas out to be honest.
First rep felt smooth. I figured I could get 15 if I could do 10 without
needing to take a deep breath. I got to that point and it was now just a matter
of doing it. I knew I had to try for number 16. Form didn’t really break here
but it probably would on the next one. Staggered a bit after racking it but I
wasn’t nearly as dead as I felt last time when I did 315lbs. I kept checking
the weight to make sure I had it right and my math was coming out to 350lbs.
Tried to hurry up on the core stuff. The clock was ticking and I had less than
20 minutes I think left at this point for the roast. Both back extensions and
planks were the same weights, reps and sets as last time. Moving through these
fast made these not so pleasant. I mean the no weight version for the back
extensions was almost peaceful. Not as much with weight. Still pretty easy.
Some worry about discomfort holding it but it wasn’t an issue. Left forearm was
sore though. Planks were much tougher. My warm-up set felt like a working set
and I about puked on the working set from the strain. Those heavish high
reppish squats are rough to recover from in a short time. But I think I enjoyed
the squats this time. I feel like they are working my legs and not my back as
much. So something is getting stronger. Home with time to spare on the roast.
Ate that first and then did my stretching and recovery stuff. The roast wasn’t
enough so I ended up cooking up some eggs too.
One Arm Neutral Grip Precor Chest Supported Rows (left
only)
50x10
95x10
140x10
185x10
230x10 PR+30lbs
Stretching
Comments: Having some moments where I feel I’m
behind where I want or should be with progress. But got to trust the process.
Delayed gratification. Don’t let a minor thing become a major thing. Kid of
mantra that I have to think about when I get those doubts. Maybe I getting
better at it or maybe things in general are going well besides just the gym
stuff. I had my stuff together this time so I could right to the gym after
work. No walk Monday, this was due to having a chiropractic appointment (needed
that) and then “shitty movie night” with my dad was moved up so not much
breathing room there haha. My arms were really sore and I’m realizing that it
was from yoke with how hard I was “pulling in” on the wobbly yoke. Slight
difference compared to the sturdier ones. May need to think about that as far
as recovery purposes doing pull-in vs push-out with yoke in the future. Knees
were aching big time at work all day. Still, kept the copper knee sleeves off
at the start. Only really want them on when I’m lifting if I can help it. It’s
not good if I need them right away. Already using the compression socks every
training session now. Still taking Tylenol for the finger stuff. Probably don’t
need it but I think taking it and keeping the tape on is enough for me to
mentally not go and be stupid about it. AMT to start off the session. 155bpm
highest reading. Up there more than I expected but it has been lower than usual
some sessions and higher others. Not
really seeing a correlation with stress levels, seems to be more dependent on my
level of sleep if it is high or low. No issues with the movement prep and
warming up. Just felt different on somethings since I had to modify
it on Saturday training at home. Axle as per usual this week. Strict pressing
out of the rack again. This had already been a change before the finger
fracture due to recovery issues for my arms and knees. Same thing as before,
triples up to a top set where I would do hopefully more reps. This time was 5-7
reps for the range. I already had it in my mind that I was going to just start
with the empty axle and do the 20lbs jumps from there. An inconsiderate man
left his deadlift stuff on the platform (he did like 6 sets after doing like 3
sets of squats with the same weight) and left no indication he was done (he
started supersetting machines) so that was fun. I had cooled down a bit from
warm-ups to then so I did the PVC pipe to warm things up for a set of 20 reps. Form
was good from the start this time. I didn’t feel as explosive on these but I
think that had more to do with me maybe having the rack start height higher
(maybe) or that I didn’t put on wrist wraps until the last set. The security
and stability I felt when I finally put them on was a self-confidence booster. My
upper back and neck got really tight on the set before my last one. I thought I
had a sixth on that top set but I was just too excited and form wasn’t there
for number six. Still a good set of five. Not my best but most I’ve done since
the 2016 reboot so there’s that. Paused push-ups next. Doing the 50lbs plate
for the rep set this time again. Plan being 1-2 more reps than last time. This
was going to be interesting as I had no idea how these would feel on my finger.
Work arounds were going to be maybe having a foam mat or hands on dumbbells but
I figured that I could do these no problem. I was right. Felt a little more fatigued
than usual as I normally do a back exercise beforehand that gives me a little
rest for the shoulders. I didn’t stress as much about keeping the weight on the
back as high the whole time as it still worked the body hard. I was surprised I
was able to muscle out 23 reps. Getting close to 25 reps on this with this
weight. Last exercise was the one arm csrs. I remembered these go last this
time. I had done 25lbs jumps up to 200lbs last time as the goal was good set of
ten, working up in sets of ten. This time was for a 10rm. I figured I could
push it and take plate jumps this time. I mean, I’ve done that weight in both
hands (albeit for less reps and not super awesome form) and this seemed to let
me put more effort in each side and get a bigger ROM. So did the plate jumps.
After each set, I mimed it with the other side without weight. Just to keep
things moving and whatnot. I’m actually surprised how well that top set weight
moved. Definitely more there. Haven’t really pushed this exercise considering
that the other two times was to keep me doing something while I was injured. May
be a good change up in the future. Headed home to stretch, ice my knees and
recover while I eat Mississippi roast.
Comments: Having to make adjustments due to the finger
injury changed this day quite a bit. Usually this is the yoke, stones and drag
day but since there was no guarantee I could safely lift stones (with or
without tacky) that was going to be dropped. Additionally, the gym in Lancaster
was having a powerlifting meet on Saturday so that would mean I’d need to go on
Sunday if I wanted to use the equipment there. Because of that, I figured it
was best to just do this workout at home with what I have since it was modified
so much. Not have to worry about driving, people being available to help with
stuff and not get the workout days out of whack again. Some convenience in one
aspect doesn’t mean convenience in all aspects haha. It has been windy and
stormy so there was a lot of debris on the street so I needed to do some
sweeping first. I also had to move my car to keep my neighbor from parking too
close to where I was planning to workout (good thing as they came home just as
I was about to start, they always park too close to my property side. You got a
two-car garage and driveway, use it). Also did other stuff to prep for the
session that I figured was best to get done before warming up so that I didn’t inadvertently
cooldown setting up later. Did my usual warm-up when I’m doing a home session of
dragging my prowler sled knock-off around the block. I had to rerig it up as I
took it apart for the chains I use to for leader chains on the front squats and
close grip benching. I also had took part of it the Lancaster gym with the
stupid Exer-Genie. Felt good to start and then my shoe came untied so I had to
stop to fix that. It has been almost a year since I’ve done this as some
neighbors had gotten a dog that didn’t appreciate the noise the drag was making
haha. The movement prep stuff took a little bit of figuring out too with doing
everything here. I got through everything. One thing I use with the 53lbs
kettlebell I had to use two 15lbs ones and it felt so light compared to that
one it was like a joke haha. So for today, I only had two things;
yoke and vehicle drags. Yoke was 50’ runs again. My street is a bit uphill so
rather than having to do uphill and downhill and readjust the camera setup each
time, I just reset the yoke downhill. My warm-ups were walking the empty yoke
(217lbs) down to the start from my garage and then some picks and empty runs.
Right hamstring was really tight. I was walking like a zombie at the start but
seemed to get better as I did warm-ups. The yoke I was using is my pitbull
strength one that I bought about 10yrs ago. Lot of mileage on this thing and I’ve
been spoiled with how the rouge fitness ones are at the gym in Lancaster. It
has been rained on, used by pro strongman and literally broke my back at one
point. It is definitely a lot tougher of a yoke with its wobbling and narrow
crossbar. I figured that even if I was having a bad day, I’d still be hitting
post injury PR since the most I’ve done on this yoke since the 2016 hard reset
is 652lbs. I didn’t want to deal with small plates really today so I just did
7lbs more on it for the sets. Knees were aching so my picks were slow and
controlled. I’d do a set and then strip all the weights off, pick it up to get
it over the finish line I made with nylon twine, and push it back to the start.
I could tell I was slow today but I’m always slower on this versus a sturdy
yoke with a thicker cross bar. I don’t think I realized how slow I was going
until I was finished. I felt like my stride had to be shorter so as not to drop
it but I kept trying to move fast. I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out
at any time. I had a little bit of misstep near the end of my run with 657lbs.
I never had any doubts I wasn’t going to finish these runs. I think I would’ve
been angry if I had done this workout with the rouge fitness yoke in Lancaster
and I was this slow but I’m realizing that these yoke workouts are generally
coming with some fatigue from the previous session. Usually heavy 18” singles
and then a lot of hip flexor abdominal work. More so with the back intensive
ssb partial gms I did. So fatigue is masking my true strength on these and that
is fine. I keep separate records on this yoke versus others and I perhaps don’t
need to make this one so much of a stranger depending on what comes up in
competition. So then it was vehicle drags. These have been written in but due
to not usually having someone around, it has been replaced with sled drags.
Pushes are easy, nothing really required. But the drags require rope of some
kind and some vehicles don’t have any easy setup for towing stuff. My car of
instance. Luckily my dad had his car and I was able to use that. Ideally, I’d
like tow straps but the nylon rope I had had to do. With other stuff being
dropped, instead of one all out minute set, this was to be three of those.
Initially tried this on my street but that wasn’t happening haha. Vehicle was
too heavy. So moved it my parent’s street which is flatter. First set was more
or less testing. I didn’t feel that beat or winded. Rest periods were how long
it took for the car to go around the block to get back to the start and reset
everything (cone placement, stop watch, measuring wheel and writing down the
numbers). Second set was better. I was setting a good pace but I stopped short
as I thought when my dad said “55” he said time. Restarting after that was hard
haha. Got the commands cleared for the last run. This was where the fatigue set
it. My legs were jelly and I was moving slower. I still managed to make that my
best distance in the time limit. Camera difficulties meant that run wasn’t
filmed haha. Legs were full so kind of hobbled and limped home to cool off and
stretch. Had the rest of the evening to relax and now I can just sleep in
Sunday.
Comments: Yet another day. Getting into that bad habit of
not going to bed earlier and sleeping in a half hour so that I have to come
home and do stuff before leaving to do stuff. This week, it has been putting off
putting away laundry, marinating chicken and getting my workout bag ready. Gone
for a walk Monday and Wednesday evening and my knee is doing better than it
was. Again, could be the Tylenol. AMT to warm-up. Heart rate was up to 149bpm
at the end so lower side this week which is good. It’s not a good sign when it
stays elevated on this easy a warm-up. Movement prep stuff was good. Started
out upstairs but went downstairs to finish up with the second half as all the
bars were in use upstairs. Big change for this workout. This was supposed to be
my last 18” pull workout for NY Record Breakers. Advised that even with straps,
too risky to try it with the broken pinkie. I was not pleased about that but I
need to adjust and do the smart thing to keep moving forward. So this required
some workarounds. The plan here was to do an exercise that would mimic the
start of the 18” pull but not be in my hands. This required the power rack, the
jack stands and the safety squat bar. Set the ssb so that it was at the
position I would be in at the start of an 18” deadlift. Attempting to do it exactly
with the spacing on the rack meant I was either too high or too low. I put a
metal rod through the jack stands so that I had a bar guide for where my shins
should be and a height gauge. I couldn’t use a barbell as the platform space
was too narrow that was elevated. In order to get the right height, I had to
stand on some plates. Goal was to warm-up and do triples from a dead stop on
partial good mornings, taking 50lbs jumps. I had asked if I should use the suit
or not as I wasn’t certain if this was testing or building. No suit, building
the Exercise. I started with the empty bar as I had no idea how this was going
to feeland went from there. Bar felt
like nothing but adding 50lbs really changed the dynamic. This was hard on the
entire back for the spinae muscles. There was really temptation to just partial
squat it up to get it moving that first rep and it was difficult to get the
right spot. I was better with getting the weight in a groove on the subsequent
reps to get the hips and hamstrings working. I got better as I went and more
efficient. That became a problem as I didn’t want to make these easy, these
needed to work on building the weakness I have. Make the back a sturdy rod and
brace. I had thought I could at best hit 660lbs when I did the empty bar but
then as I did these, I figured I’d top out at like 460lbs. But then I kept
grinding out the reps and sets. I knew on the very first rep with 610lbs that
this was the last one. I could feel my bracing breaking down trying to overcome
the inertia. Not that my back doesn’t do that on heavy pulls but I don’t need
another injury so this was a place to stop. The strain on those last few sets
were something else. I was ok at the start but I was really sweating by the
end. After that was lighter stuff. As last time, the kettlebell squats
followed. No changes to what I did then. I was a little leery about how my
right knee would feel as it was barking at me the last time. I did a single
bodyweight squat and it felt fine so I knew this would be a better time with
the kettlebell. These were easy, I was just a bit fatigued from the many sets
of partial gms and taking a short rest between sets of these kettlebell squats.
Last thing was abdominals. I was not to do the hanging style due to the
gripping aspect so I was allowed to do the roman chair style ones. As has been
the case on these, two sets of reps. Increasing another 5 so goal being 30-35
reps a set. Much easier and smoother to not have to worry about the swinging on
these. These don’t bug my left shoulder and not having to break the momentum
each rep seems to keep the tension constant. Just a little tricky to get set in
the chair so that I’m stable. I took a bit of a rest in between the sets to put
away my weights but aslo because my hip flexors and abs get fatigued and sore
from these pretty quick haha. So little bit later of a night so I went for
burritos and figured the chicken could marinate another 24hrs. Home to stretch
and ice my knees.
One Arm Neutral Grip Precor Chest Supported Rows (left
only)
50x10
100x10
125x10
150x10
175x10
200x10 PR+15lbs & 2 reps
Precor Pec Flyes
75x10
125x7
175x7
225x28 PR+5lbs & 1 rep
Stretching
Comments: At the start of the day. I wasn’t feeling the
best. I was bummed about the finger injury making me change workouts. Had me
thinking that my two most recent injuries had been due to stupidity and
laziness. Not a good thing. Doubts of myself and what I’m doing. And I had
thought I had not picked serious contests so that I was doing this for fun.
Right knee aches all the time. I’m at least back to walking on my rest days
again. Left shoulder tight and achy. Finger isn’t nearly as swelled so that is
good. On a steady diet of Tylenol every 12hrs. Still addicted to my snooze
button. So not high hopes for today. Near the end of the day I got some
compliments so that lifted my mood a little bit. AMT to start off the session.
147bpm highest reading. Didn’t really need to modify my movement stuff and
stretching to work around the hand. Stuff was light enough that involved my
hands that I could hold the objects in my thumb and two fingers. I did have to
adjust some hand positions for stretches to not stress the finger. The original plan had been to do log clean and
push press triples, followed by pulldowns and pec flyes like usual. Log was
switched to push pressing out of the rack for triples. I know I could still
clean the log but no sense ignoring medical professional for ego and make the
injury linger. Warm-up before log was taking a pair of 5lbs dumbbells and doing
ten strict presses followed by ten push presses. Seems to keep the shoulders
from barking jumping right to 90lbs. When I had been planning to do this
workout with the clean, I was going to do the same jumps as last time on the
strict press singles and see how I felt after trying 270lbs for a triple. Not a
lifetime PR with that but it would be a best since the reboot on 2016. I was
definitely feeling so hot. I was doing a bit of my viking press style rebound
on the reps which needs to be timed right to work. My first set with the belt
was 210lbs and I felt like my abs were going to cramp that first rep. My nerves
were getting me and I threw up in my mouth a little before I did 240lbs. I didn’t
look at the video for any of these and it probably is a good thing as 240lbs
looked slow. 270lbs was the goal for minimum but I generally suck at anything
over 240lbs for reps on log, especially clean once or out of the rack. It went
up pretty good and only had a slow down on the last rep with my right arm not
firing in sync. I watched this one and it looked good. Not confident enough to
think that 30lbs more was there for a triple but I thought that 285lbs would be
selling myself short so went with 290lbs. This could suck or I could surprise
myself and do it. Before I went, someone at the gym asked me if I was going to
the Arnold again and said that I was an inspiration to them. Damn, can’t not
get this weight now. First rep went up nice and I got a little excited that the
triple was happening. But it’s that next rep that is key as usually I can get
the perfect position on this particular rack for the singles or one rep. Second
one went up just as well. I might pull it off. Third I went for it and it got
out in front. Right arm hadn’t fired in synch again. I could feel it wanting to
come back down but I took a step forward to get my balance under it again and
stand up with it at lockout. Victory. I’ve not repped 300lbs in the gym on log
and I feel very close to it now. This PR took me 7.5 years to achieve. That
last PR for a triple had been back when Mike Jenkins was still alive. So much
time and effort put in. Next was back work. No go for the right side so best
thing was to do one arm chest supported rows. Not hard on the lower back and I
could probably work up to a decent weight. I did these before when I had the
biceps strain in 2018. That time, I had done really really light weight for the
injured arm. Not going to mess with that at this time. So plan was work up to a
good, smooth set of 10 on the left side. Hope was that I’d get at least 200lbs
here. I also hoped that this would help with the shoulder ache with having to
get the back muscles to cooperate. I took big jumps the first two sets to get
an idea of how this was going to go. Once I got that figured out, I went with
25lbs jumps. This seemed to work out fine. I have more there. I think that next
time, I’ll do plate jumps and see how that goes as these can probably get
pushed a bit more than the two hand style as far as overload to each side. Pec
flyes after that and upstairs. Apparently I was to do these after log, not
after rows. Idea being that since I was doing just one side on the rows, this
was going to fatigue my body asymmetrically. Oops. Well I had to wait to use
the pec flyes so I did some mind to muscle stuff by moving my right side as if
I was doing a one arm row just to get some movement and contracting the
muscles. Maybe even things out. I took bigger jumps this time. I was really not
sure how these would go with how my biceps felt from all that arm-over-arm
stuff but thankfully, no issues. 5lbs more on the top set. Got an extra rep,
just not enough oomph there to get another rep. Home to stretch (it had gotten
really late fast) ice my knee and eat big beef tenderloin.
(seated, upright) 305x100’/275x100’ in 165.76 Seconds
(seated, competition style) 375x100’/305x100’ in 177.98
Seconds
Stretching
Comments: I had hoped this would be a fairly quick
workout. Get in early and get out so I could do social activities with several
parties. That didn’t happen. I got up early and it was the earliest I’ve gone
out to train in Lancaster that I can think of. This was also my most event
specific day this training cycle so far. Cool enough that I didn’t need to keep
the light off in the cardio room to warm-up. Despite my knee being achy, the
elliptical felt good. I already had on my knee sleeve for the right leg and
another on my right arm as I knew this was going to be rough on those spots. Movement
prep stuff and stretching felt pretty good. I might have forgot to do the wrist
stretching at the end. Sandbag rows to start off the lifting part of the
workout. I did them so I was rowing them with the short way in hands. Reason
being is that it was different from how I load the sandbags and this was more
of a warm-up for the next exercise, fingal fingers. I debated going heavier
here as I had no idea how the fingers would feel but I just did the same thing
as last time I did these. Good idea as while the 150lbs and 200lbs felt super
easy, the 250lbs wasn’t that easy. Felt good and warm there so it was on to the
fingers. I’ve never really done these before. I think I attempted them once
like 7 or 6 years ago to show my sister how to lift them at a contest she was
doing that had them. They were much thinner than what I have to work with and
rectangular. So not really the same. Two contests I plan on doing have them so
I got to see how it is. The gym has three of them (300lbs, 400lbs, 500lbs) but really
just one pivot so have to switch them out and that can be a pain. The goal was
to work up to as close to contest weight as I could and do an EMOM workout with
it for ten singles. 500lbs is the weight for the upcoming show (no idea on the
other one as it is still being built). So had to switch out the 400lbs to try
out the 300lbs first. It felt light so that was good. I had been most worried
about the “clean” as that was where I got stuck with the rectangular fingers
those years ago. I was a little nervous about biceps on this part of the
movement too. I did some “high pulls” before I went with it to see how it
moved. My wrists ached a little. Not a bad thing but it reminded me a lot of
how my wrists feel on the transition from the pull to the push on a heavy tire
flip. So I did another one with my wrist wraps on to make sure it felt ok and I
still have the mobility necessary. Felt good and it was on to the next finger.
400lbs loaded. Now, the pipes are the same length but the diameter is
different. So the 400lbs finger is like 2” wider. I struggled to get it up high
enough to catch it that first rep. Enough so that I felt that 500lbs wasn’t
happening today for a single, let alone trying to do an EMOM with it. I had brought
different gloves with me to try out in case grip felt like an issue. I figured
I’d need them if the pipe was rough and had spots that could cut skin. And with
the other contest making them out of wood, I want to avoid splinters. My receiver
gloves worked great and that made my second try much smoother. Not enough so
that I wanted to try the 500lbs one today. 400lbs was going to be enough. So I
got set for the EMOM. I was worried that the rust would make the gloves not
good but that was the least of my worries apparently. I had tried to wrap my
wrists a different way. I had done this before when I hurt my wrist at 2017
Nationals and I was using a wrist wrap to stabilize my wrist so I could still
do back and deadlifts. This involved setting the loop on my pinky finger and
then slipping it off so it was on the back of my wrist. The receiver gloves are
sticky and I couldn’t seem to get the loop off my pinky so I said screw it and
left it there. This was big dumb idiot moment. I got and pick it up and flip my
hands for the transition to press it up and walk. I felt a crunch in both hands
as I saw that my pinky fingers had been pulled in as I caught the finger. The
mat was gone so dropping it would severely damage the floor so I had to grit my
teeth and push that sucker over onto the other mat. I knew I had done something
to my fingers but I figured it was going to hurt once I took of my wrist wraps
and gloves and the urgent care in Lancaster isn’t open on Saturdays so I’d have
to drive home (my insurance is $45 for specialist and $200 for ER, this wasn’t
an emergency and nothing they were going to do was going to fix it today). I
got the wrist wraps to the point where the loop was off my pinkies and I figured
that if it felt ok, I’d finish out the day. If not, then I’d call it there and
drive home for x-rays ASAP. Getting the pinkies out of the way made this fine
and I finished out the EMOM with no problems. My left shoulder is stiff and
tight from these but it should hopefully calm down with some soft tissue work
and the antiflammatories I was going to need for my finger. So after that was
done, I took off the wrist wraps and gloves. Left pinky was fine but the right
one was definitely hurting. I had full range of motion so whatever it was, it
wasn’t something that would keep me out for terribly long. It started to swell
up (as expected) now that I had taken off the wrist wraps and gloves. I had one
last thing for the session and if that bothered it, then I would be done. So
the plan here was to do three sets of arm over arm pull into sled drag, 100’
for each. First set standing up, second set seated but not using full body and
the last set to be go for broke competition style. The drag portion was to
remain the same. I figured that I’d use the turf as that would one, mean less
weight and two, I’ve a general idea of what I can do on the turf whereas the
other areas are unknown. The one spot is a severe incline so I’d need at least
450lbs to make that feel like anything for the arm over arm and the other is
really uneven. I figured the best thing would be to have the sled drag portion
be the uphill (small incline indoors) so that I didn’t have to really worry
about adding weight to the sled if necessary. This might be the hardest thing I’ve
done in my 10 years of strongman training. Now I had thought that with my prep
for the Arnold this year, that 90lbs under the top weight I worked up to for 60’
wouldn’t be that terrible for 100’. Boy was I wrong. It started out well enough
but eventually I couldn’t keep it moving just staying bent over like a truck
pull and had to use a bit more body movement to keep it going. This was
terrible. The drag back was next. This felt like it was 200lbs heavier than it
was dragging it back. The set took over 2.5 minutes start to finish. I just
collapsed to the ground after that and just laid there for at least five
minutes before I got up. I was crying sweat and all I could think was I got to
do two more sets that are to be heavier than this one. I was thinking maybe I
should just drive home and get x-rays now. But I’m stubborn and I don’t quit
easy. Flaw or virtue, depending on the day. So that first go was too heavy.
Next time, I’ll need to be mindful. So for the next set, I was only going up
30lbs and I’d take that weight off when I finish the pull and then do the drag
with the same weight and see if I survive. Trying to just use my torso and
upper body for this was odd and I’m not quite sure if I did it right. I didn’t
want to bother anyone for this after how that first set went as I had no idea
if I was finishing this or not. The problem was the rope didn’t really have
anywhere to go so by the end I had about 100’ of manila rope in my lap that I
had to shove off. I knew what to expect with the drag so it wasn’t as
horrendous on my mind. I didn’t collapse at the end so that was good. I figured
for the last set, I could bump the weight up a bit. 100lbs more than the first
set. This should be good now that I was going to do the full yaw on the pull. I’d
take off weight but leave the weight from the last arm over arm on for the
drag. I had Mike help me with the rope and then follow on the drag with the
camera. I wanted to stop on the pulls. Just the zero momentum and felling the
previous two sets. My arms were pumped. It was a struggle to get up from the
ground after I finished the distance and take my belts off so I could breathe
and switch the weights to get the drag going. But I was finishing. I collapsed
at the end but it was intentional this time. Almost took 3 minutes to finish
that set. I just had to lay on the ground for a while and recover. I was at the
threshold where any additional exertion I might vomit and void my bowels.
Thankfully, neither of those things happened. I put the stuff away and
stretched before driving home to get x-rays. They said I had an avulsion
fracture and it would take 4 weeks to hopefully be fully healed. So not ideal
but probably the best case considering what could’ve happened. Kind of put a
damper on the weekend. Just going to do what I can to make things still work.
Comments: Really dragging this week. I don’t think I’ve
gotten to bed any earlier than 11:40PM and been sleeping in 36 minutes. My
stomach had been bothering me the day before. Abs had been sore and I just didn’t
feel that great. I felt exhausted but knew that I had to stick to the schedule
for this week to insure that I could get things to be open for the days I
needed them. I really wanted to just go home and sleep after work but I couldn’t.
Knee feeling slightly better. Feel like I may be neglecting the soft tissue
work for the upper body this week AMT to warm-up. Heart rate up to
157bpm. Expected with how I was feeling. At least it was under 160bpm. Movement
prep and stretching was mostly good. Heart rate was still kind of elevated by
the end of it. Didn’t really want to do the front squats today. Front squats
with chains to start. Same setup as last time but the working sets with 250lbs.
As decent as these felt last time they popped up, they didn’t really this time.
Right knee ached but not as bad as it has or as it could I guess. I took 50lbs
jumps which probably will need to be reconsidered for next time. I say this
breathing is a problem on these and going right to tight hard belt is dumb.
What I did was copper belt, rehband belt and then hard belt with two holes when
I should’ve done a set with the belt with one hole in. Not going for walks and
my stomach feeling bloated means the belt is a bit snugger. So this resulted in
a very uncomfortable first set that had me nearly blackout trying to rerack the
weight. Loosened the belt one notch for the second set and that was much better
as far as breathing but my core didn’t feel as stable. Last set was with it
back to two notches and that was tough but probably the best off the three. I
felt really slow but camera says these were speed work. Wide grip deadlifts for
singles after this. I used a bar with less aggressive knurling so that it didn’t
obliterate my shin skin as bad through the socks. I took bigger jumps than last
time so only had three sets to work up to the working sets. I used a little
more than 70% here. I didn’t want to bother with smaller weights as carrying
the leader chain is enough of a pain then having random weighty collars. 25lbs
increases is just easier, less math. Right hamstring felt tight. Wish I had
another massage scheduled soon so I could get more work on them. It didn’t
occur to me to be lowering like I should be (hips back) until I had already
done 3 of my 5 EMOM singles. Definitely puts more stress on the hamstrings
doing that. Like the front box squats, they didn’t feel that awesome but camera
says they were speedy as well today. Just how I was feeling not reflecting on I
was looking. Last thing was the back raise bench abdominal stuff. Same reps and
sets as last time. Easy stuff but took my time between the sets to put away my
weights from deads. Second set felt better. Home for stretching and Mississippi
roast and icing my knees.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Northeast Regionals in Monaca, PA on 6/1/2024. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
