Mobility Prep
Sandbag Rows
150x10
200x8
250x6
Fingal Fingers
300x1
300x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
400x1
Arm-Over-Arm Pulls/Sled Drag Medleys (turf)
(standing) 275x100’/275x100’ in 150.90 Seconds
(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.
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