December 29, 2020 – Week 20, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Viper Presses
Kettlebells
15’sx5
Dumbbells
40’sx1
Log
100x1
120x1
142x1
162x1
182x1
204x1
224x1
244x1
264x1 PR+5lbs
 
12” Log Strict Presses
191x2
191x2
191x2
191x2
191x2
 
Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
15’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx50 PR+4 reps
 
Slingshot Dips
bwx10
bw+26x8
bw+52x5
bw+78x5
bw+104x5
bw+114x5
 
Paused Band External Rotations
mbx10/10

Active Bar Hang (thick bar)
bw for 25 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I apparently decided to not enjoy the Christmas holiday. My body decided that it would feel sucky and my mind said it is time to be tired and apathetic. I must have missed the vote to decide on this plan of action. I can deal with them one at a time to some degree but not both. The apathy feeling is sometimes even worse than the crushing sadness part of depression. Because at least I feel something. Couldn’t sleep and just laid in bed for hours. Joints were bugging me. My lower back was tight. I had indicated to Mr. Westerling that I was feeling beat up and like crap and that I was not going to lift the rest of the week and maybe not this coming week. Part of it was worry that I was pushing too much and would injure myself in the process. December 2017 and 2018 are reminders of that. So part of that was rewrite’s for the next few workouts and attempting to reframe my mindset to cope with this unwanted intrusion of depression. So part of it was addressing the thoughts. Stressed out and ended up getting a cold or something. So avoided people for few days to be safe. Some of the thinking had been about why do this if I’m achy and lifting nowhere near the weight I want to be. Makes it difficult to play with my niece and nephews when they visit. But I see now that I just need to warm-up a little and then I’m good. Just like with training. Also knowing that not holding up to the goals of the training isn’t me as a failure. A few days off to clear my head and get stuff under control was good. Reduced warm-up again. Tried out the shoulder drills with the kettlebells while lying on a bench and I like those a lot more. Viper pressing on log for today. So initially listed as try 5lbs more than last time. Then those past few days and the adjusted plan was work up to just 200lbs with the cavet that I could do the original plan and stop when it feels like I need to. I had the intention of doing the original plan assuming my body cooperated. Last time I did these, my hip drive was pure crap and my lower back was shot. This time, I was feeling like I could do better but my biceps were really tight. And they didn’t seem like they’d be not tight after the first two singles with the log. But then they were fine. Ok then. Guess they just needed a good ass whooping.  20lbs jumps until I got to a weight I could swap out a “25” and go from there. 182lbs I knew I was good for a normal training day. 224lbs felt a little slower than I would’ve liked. 244lbs though went up smoother than 239lbs did last time so I figured I had another 5lbs. Didn’t struggle nearly as much as last time on that top set. Strict pressing with the log out of the rack followed. Adjusted plan had been only 3 doubles with progressing weights. Original plan was the normal 5x2. Well seeing as how viper pressing went well, might as well stick to the original plan for this workout. Felt good. Hardly any aches in the left shoulder on these. Easy stuff. Fourth set felt the easiest and smoothest of them. Into the garage after that for accessory work stuff. The dumbbell rows on the bench. Modified was to do 20 reps but I felt good so max reps it was. Goal was 2 more than last time. But also advised that if I hit 50 reps, the exercise would be changed up. So that was tempting. I felt really good at first but could feel it slow down about half way. I was surprised that I kept up the pace though. Got 50. I probably had a few more reps. So much time under tension since essentially rowing for a minute straight haha. Then slingshot dips. These seem to be necessary for my spine health as much as for building up the pressing. Almost did that first set without the slingshot again haha. Not fighting the odd weights on my 25’s at this point so just kept it the same and added 10lbs to that number as planned out here. I did get a little light headed (ok, a lot) from holding my breath on the penultimate set but fixed that on the last set. So to finish up the evening, some more shoulder health stuff. Paused band external rotations are back. Reduced reps with the holds and just a single set. I figured that I could push a little here since just the one set and lower reps. Brought out the mini bands for this. Though but didn’t feel like it was wrecking me. Active bar hang felt nice. Could do these for a good bit longer but building for now as new. Hopefully keep a good streak going now. Big dinner followed by stretching and icing my knees.

December 24, 2020 – Week 19, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
bwx25
40x25
 
Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
225x3
315x2
Added Straps
405x1
495x1
545x1
600x0
 
Deadlifts off Crash Mats (touch n go, straps)
465x5

Paused Ab Wheel
bwx15

Paused Side Plank Raises
bwx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: I wanted today to be good. But what I want doesn’t always happen. More often than not it doesn’t happen. Hope is not a strategy.  Body has just felt beat. Felt beat all last week and has spilled over into this week. Biceps sore, knees hurt. Lower back aches. I think everything is just so achy right now that I can’t even care about my left shoulder. I can invest in reacting to it at this point with everything else going on. Only had a half day of work so I could go train right after in my garage. A deadlift day. Two weeks ago I was feeling like crap and I had an outstanding deadlift day (though I got a little sick afterwards). But last week it was not great and I attributed that to shoveling snow. I can’t keep blaming that. Perhaps I am even worse at recovery than I think. It was raining a ton. Treadmill stuff felt good. The warm-ups have been reduced quite a bit starting this week so it was pretty much right into the training after that. My knees were really achy doing these goblet squats but my hips felt fine. My knees felt better after doing a lot of reps and they were fine doing the set with 40lbs. Deadlifts after that. I was kind of hoping I would feel good for today. I had reached into my drawer for a shirt and I had pulled out the America’s Strongest Viking one and thought maybe this was meant to be. I don’t know. I try to find meaning. Trying to not think and worry. So plan was like last deadlift session with the plan being to try for 5-15lbs more than last time. Not a big ask for how I was feeling two weeks ago. Felt like too much with how I felt. Like I was kind of worried that I’d not get 545lbs. Deadlift didn’t feel great today. Knees were aching doing the bar. Felt like a little more lower back than I would like. But it seems I usually feel like crap at the start of deadlifting at this time in my life. I think that I was getting too focused on things watching the video. It looked faster to me in the moment despite not feeling fast. I look at them after the fact and I have no idea why I did what I did. Not like I did. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do when I get like this. The plan is the plan. Me from two weeks ago wouldn’t think the plan that was laid out here for the this week would be tough. I mean 5lbs on axle that had flown up and 5-15lbs on a solid deadlift. But two weeks later I feel worn down and stiff everywhere. Lot of things in my head. If I had any sense, I would’ve stopped at 545lbs. But had things swirling. Maybe if I really wanted it I’d get the next lift. I have to commit to the pull and not be worried I’ll get injured. Anything over 585lbs without a suit would be the most I’ve attempted (minus that 715lbs at the Arnold, that was going nowhere) to pull since my back injury over 4 years ago. Also maybe reading too much into using my anxiety to make myself nervous to pull. I put it all in. I think my worry was if I had missed only 5lbs more, I’d have felt worse, hence going for 600lbs. Because I make 600lbs, I make 600lbs. Stupid. Only got it a few inches off the ground before I couldn’t do it. I was disappointed. But I didn’t just up and quit the workout. I wasn’t injured. Don’t break down. Moving on to the next thing. Crash mat deadlifts. Same plan as it has been just 20lbs more. It was a little difficult to convince myself this was worth doing. First few reps I let sink into the mats a bit more than usual and finally got my crap together for the last 3-2 reps. Abdominal stuff to end the session up. Just glad I didn’t have a lot for today. I ended up taking a break to drink stuff and put the weights away.  I think I did 2 count instead of 1 count pauses for the ab wheel. I think I did that because I couldn’t remember what I usually do and because reps were staying the same. It was a nice, slow end to the session. I finished up with stretching and then wrapped presents (I was holding off doing so because I was still waiting on stuff but as this date, still not here). I seemed ok but then I crashed pretty hard around 8:00PM and ended up going to sleep at 9:30PM. Body aches and feels old. My motivation to train any more this week is pretty much zero with how I’m feeling physically and mentally.

December 22, 2020 – Week 19, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Axle Clean and Push Presses
45x1
65x1
85x1
105x1
125x1
145x1
165x1
185x1
205x1
225x1
245x1
265x1
285x1

Axle Half Clean and Push Presses
232x2
232x2
232x2
232x2
232x2
 
Rack Chins (yoke, straps)
bwx5
bwx17
bwx17
bwx17
 
12” Log Incline Bench Presses
87x5
107x3
127x3
147x3
167x3
187x3
207x15

Paused Floor Band Trap 3 Raises (2 count)
µbx10
 
Active Bar Hang (thick bar)
bw for 28 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Knees have just been hating me for the past few days. The tight right calf issue seems to be wandering about through my lower leg. I blame this on the snow shoveling and having to alter my walk routine to go up a really really steep hill. I can still feel some pressure in my lower back from it being worked so that leads to some pressure in the lower back. Not painful but I notice it. I think after reading the workouts, trying to use my anxiety to make sure the lifts are fast. I was hoping I would be good for training today. Shoulders not bothering me as much. Sometimes the soft tissue work is too much and makes it take longer to heal. So I listened. Warm-ups for this next block have changed a bit so a lot less work going on here. The Lock Shoulder Drills were lowered in reps but increased in weight and time for the holds. I ended up using kettlebells which was interesting. I was advised to try doing these on a bench next time to try and make these more comfortable. These with holds didn’t bother my shoulders today. I did have my right triceps cramp up trying to hold the kettlebells a certain way on the second of the three drills. Axle for today. So now it is the time for the little jumps. 20lbs jumps but only aiming for 5lbs more than the previous session. Fair enough. Probably for the best today. My knees were really sucky the first few lifts until they got unsucked. But man did my biceps feel sore. I guess those do need me to beat the crap out of them with soft tissue work all the time. They were sore and it showed in my 2nd pull being not great. I wasn’t expecting to need to revert to the double bump until 245lbs but here, I needed it with 205lbs. 285lbs was way harder than I would’ve liked. Especially with how feather light 280lbs felt two weeks ago. But these things happen. Nobody died. It wasn’t a grinder. It just was. After that was a new one. More a twist on an old lift. So this has been push pressing or strict pressing for 5x2. The rack work just hasn’t felt right for me with the push pressing at home. Axle isn’t a bad as log. My knees don’t seem to hate me as much after a clean and then going into the press. But the clean puts biceps in a precarious position and no sense in overdoing that. Well I had seen a fellow competitor (got 2nd at 2019 USS Nats SHW and is recovering from knee injuries) essentially be doing half cleans. Starting with the axle on the gut where it would be after I do my super slick hand flip and then bump it up to the shoulders for the press. Now he just did the clean but I figured this would be great as consistency here is my problem and it isn’t worth training it a lot due to the above mentioned biceps stuff. I had shown it to Mr. Westerling and he thought it was a great idea to implement. Now it was time to see if it worked or not for me. My hope was that my tables and crash pads would be just right. They were. The start was a little weird until I just accepted that was going to be starting this thing with my belt lifting the axle and then going. I think I got better as I went. Fourth set felt my best as far as the press, last set was my fastest getting setup and finishing the set. Assuming these don’t beat me up too much, these could be good for the axle. Rack chins next. I needed to hang for a moment as my biceps were so sore. I’m glad I didn’t have any pain in my left rear delt like I did at the start last session I did these. Again, just chipping away at these until I get to 3x20 eventually I guess. They are a nice break from the low reps and heavy stuff. Just moving my body. After that was a changeup. No more dumbbells for the incline stuff. Going to try and add weight to a movement. So log outside on the incline bench. Plan here was work up in 3’s to a weight I felt I could do 12-15 reps with for max reps with no grinders. Ideally, I wanted to set this up so that I was starting from the top so I could use stretch reflex and bring the log into a groove rather than strain to start from the bottom.  I was honestly not sure how these would go. I’ve not been very good on log incline, regardless of style. And tendonitis from a while back made these not so good. I think my push press has been higher than what I can do here so it is possibly a way to work that without working it. My hope here was to do over 200lbs. Maybe I should’ve done 187lbs for the top set. I ran into issues with the top set as I kept on banging the damn thing into the rack arms. I wanted to do these without the wrist wraps so that I didn’t just keep pushing to failure. 15 reps done but maybe harder than I would’ve liked. So that wrapped up the heavy stuff. Lighter stuff for shoulder health. T3 raises on the ground with the bands. Lower reps but longer count. Felt fine. No issues. It does appear that I’m doing them incorrectly with the anchor points so I’ll fix that going forward. Then finished up with bar hang with my shoulders retracted and pressed down. Not bad. My hamstrings cramped from keeping my legs up off the ground. I’ll need to keep them tucked in front next time to stop that. I felt beat after this. Ate meatloaf and stretched and iced my knees.

December 19, 2020 – Week 18, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walk
Turns at 50’
135x100’ in 14.29 seconds (right)
135x100’ in 13.91 seconds (left)
No Turns
185x50’ in 6.70 seconds
225x50’ in 7.87 seconds
275x50’ in 8.08 seconds

Sandbag Rows (long ways)
175x5
225x5
275x3

Sandbag Loads (62”)
225x1
275x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1

Stretching
 
Comments: Every workout is important. At least that is how I seem to be treating them. Why would I do it if it wasn’t? It builds from before and adds to the next. But these aren’t life or death. Much like the roads here, I’m still a work in progress. With how training had felt this week, I did not have high expectations for this training session. I didn’t expect to be recovered really from Thursday’s workout and snow shoveling. I felt sore on Friday and exhausted. Also felt my allergies acting up right before bed. So I setup a humidifier, took nasal spray and Nyquil. Best sleep I’ve had all week haha. I hadn’t fallen asleep until after midnight (late start to pot roast so late dinner) but I slept for 13.5hrs. I guess I needed that. The good thing was I felt rested and didn’t feel that out of sorts with body aches and muscle soreness. The bad thing was that I had very little time to get my workout done before it got dark outside (I needed to eat breakfast and wait about 2hrs at minimum) and it was below freezing. The below freezing wasn’t that bad. I don’t really mind the cold. It was good in that I didn’t have to worry about ice in the street from stuff melting and refreezing the previous day. That had been a concern with all the snow that I might have to modify this workout. Warming up for this actually felt pretty good. This next block of training will be changing up some things, including the warm-ups for each session. I wore my warm-ups and gloves to keep warm. I kept them on while setting things up but took the top and gloves off for the sets of farmer’s walk. No issues with my knees warming up for the farmer’s walks. Same plan as last time, just 10lbs more per hand. I mean it was but went up 15lbs. My reasoning was that way I was using the 45’s from the start when it came to the turns. Wider plates means I have to make a turn that doesn’t throw me off balance and doesn’t hit the cone. My warm-up plan with doing the empty handles a more casual pace down and then accelerating after the turn is working well. Not feeling as much hamstring tightness. And that has been a good thing for a few weeks now. I think they’ve finally recovered from the stress I put on them with heavy deadlifting every week of the platform and band cycle. Turns continue to need work. I tried to accommodate for the fact that the snow was pushing me out about 2’ further into the street than usual. Can’t cut the turn that harsh and risk slipping on ice. As with last time, I tend to make a bigger arc going for the right turn then I do the left turn. Maybe it is because I don’t have a barrier on the one side (for the right turn, I’m can’t bevel out from the run but can go out further for softer turn and the left turn I can bevel out but have to make a narrow turn since I have a barrier on the side I can’t run into). First run slower than the second. Could just be from getting warmed up. I was able to keep my footspeed up on the second one despite the handles getting cross body a little. From there, moved onto the straight shot stuff. Based off how I was feeling, I thought I started off slow but picked up speed as I went. I definitely got a little off balance that first run on the pick trying to go right off the block. I didn’t think I was as slow as I was on that next set. Last run was about how I thought it would be. Would’ve really liked it to be under 8 seconds but it was a 15lbs jump in weight per hand from last time and even though I was feeling good, I could tell there was still some fatigue in my quads and hips from last workout and the snow shoveling. I also have to realize that the speed on some of these from earlier on in the training cycle had been with more assistance. As in, I was wearing a hard belt and chalk on these now work up weights whereas now, they have minimal stuff. That adds up when dealing with fractions of a second sometimes. Speaking of that, the last run was .01 away from my best time with this weight from this height handles, regardless of implement. I got all my stuff out of the street into the garage before getting started with the sandbags. I had turned on lights on my porch, front entry way and some Christmas lights to make myself more visible outside. I put all the weights away before I got in on the sandbag rows. My right biceps had felt a little sore so I was cautious here. Closed up the garage so that I could take off my warm-ups for the sandbag work. I’m my own space heater. Rows felt a little off but still very strong. Not my all-time best but definitely not at all like that one week where 275lbs felt too heavy. I kind of set things up this time to have it so I could move from the rows into the loads with minimal down time. First two pretty easy. So the last bit was the EMOM with my 313lbs bag. This time doing 8 lifts. It did not start out well. I was too eager and didn’t really secure it in my lap before going for the load and I could tell as I was doing it that it wasn’t secure enough and that I was too far away. So I stopped before full extension and readjusted and then went. I was like crap, not a good start here. I thankfully didn’t have that issue with any of the other lifts. This was also the first time I did these where I didn’t have one of the reps be a struggle to pick and lap. I wasn’t quite done with doing stuff as I had to figure out how to get my squat rack back outside on the patio. Too risky to get it back through the frozen snow. And really didn’t want to have to take it apart to get it through the house. It took a bit but I got it through without having to unbolt anything. Stretched, cleaned up and ate dinner. Hopefully I can recover enough these next two days so that I can be ready for this next block of training.

December 17, 2020 – Week 18, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
18” Box Squats
bwx27 (miscounted)

18” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands
65x10
Added Bands (+25lbs bottom/+44lbs top)
65x5
95x5
125x3
155x2
185x2
215x2
245x2
275x2
305x2
 
Wide Grip Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
405x1
405x1

Planks
bw+45x60 Seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 Seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: As achy and grumpy as I was after the end of the previous workout, I was even more so the following day. After the fact, I’m thinking due to the sudden cold front that dumped all the snow made the joints that I’ve beaten up feel it. But I don’t like how my wear and tear is showing. I took Tylenol, did foam rolling for everything and even did heating pad and rolled tennis ball for my foot. Stinks when one week feeling confident and the next feeling like you’ve slid on ice right on your ass and back, looking up at the sky. I was annoyed but resigned to being off and went to bed without icing my knees or doing any other soft tissue work. One spot being tight ends up being from all connected stuff pulling and stretching. I don’t want to ignore or mask discomfort. But I also need to remind myself that I’ve outlasted every pain I’ve ever felt so far. It will pass. I ended up having do about an hour of shoveling Wednesday night before bed and then another at lunch time today after the plows finally came through. I think some of that was beneficial as it took my mind off my achy shoulder and may have got stuff to click into place after all the heavy snow and pushing. But I also knew that my planned workout for the day would suffer. My hope had been that it all was done Wednesday but round two later that night meant I had to shovel again. I guess I could’ve just done a small path but that would risk having stuff melt and refreeze. Much easier to move snow compared to ice. But the workout would suffer. No ifs ands or buts here. Last time we had this kind of snow, it wore me out for heavy deadlifts the next day. I remember as I got super frustrated with it but I was good when I put on a suit for rack pulls. Suit don’t get tried. But I came back a few weeks later and crushed it so. So plan was easy day but really it was survive and don’t anything stupid. Warming up stuff felt good. I was a little late in starting. Had a small roast in the oven. Plan was using the ssb and a little band tension and work up to doubles with 30lbs jumps up to 50-60% of what I feel 1rm would be.  It was an aggressive increase like the past two sessions (60lbs) so I knew things would have to be really on to be feeling like that was good. Also first time using my squat rack to squat inside. The bodyweight stuff felt good I guess as I miscounted the reps. I was then trying my best to follow the prescribed reps for the day. I think my hope was that adding support as I went up that stuff would keep moving the same and I’d be ok since I used none first time and the bare minimum the second time. And some sets it felt like it was working but others no. Honestly, these felt slower than last time. But I didn’t want to do even less weight than last time. I was hoping that if I was really focused, that I’d make 305lbs feel even better than 275lbs did. It did not. I could tell that my hips and legs were struggling slightly to push through for lockout. I was trying to not use a belt for the squats since not supposed to be that heavy. I kind of knew that I should shut it down here but I checked with Mr. Westerling (I know, I’m getting really anxious with staying on target and not overdoing it) to see if this was where I got off. It was. Said I was crashing into the box too hard. Yep, time to move on. Wide grip deadlifts. Before the snow, I was looking forward to these and this workout. Afterwards, I was not thrilled. Same as it has been but up to 405lbs for the three singles. My knees immediately hated me even getting into position for 135lbs. I had to really fight to get into some kind of position. 185lbs was much the same. 225lbs though has been my rock with these. Moves quick and effortless and lets me know it’s all ok. It was a liar today as while it was how it usually is, I could feel the other stuff feeling a tad heavier. I didn’t bother looking at the videos until I was done but they felt slow and grinding to me on the 405lbs sets. Video doesn’t look it. But these felt like 495lbs to me. Time was moving fast as apparently my roast had been done for a few minutes. I felt like ass but only had planks left. Rather than take a break to drink stuff and put the weights away, I just went right into the planks so I could be done and then eat. I ate dinner before I finally went back into the garage and put away the weights and then stretched. Now I just have to hope I can recover for Saturday and if not then, at least get back on track for next week. Stupid snow storm.

December 15, 2020 – Week 18, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Viper Presses
Kettlebells
15’sx5
Dumbbells
40’sx1
Log
95x1
115x1
135x1
155x1
175x1
199x1
219x1
239x1
259x1 PR+2lbs
 
12” Log Strict Presses
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
 
Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
15’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx46 PR+4 reps
 
Slingshot Dips
bwx10
bw+26x8
bw+52x5
bw+78x5
bw+104x12
 
Stretching
 
Comments: I thought I felt ok. Wasn’t feeling like I had a cold or anything now. Sleep hasn’t been the best for a few days now. Maybe stress related. I don’t want to take stuff to sleep if I don’t have to. But I might as I feel like I’m fighting in my sleep. Left shoulder/trap/whatever still a pain. I was hoping since I was feeling a slight ache in both sides that it was “getting better” or something. I don’t know. My right calf insert to hamstring has been tight since last training. It got tight after I finished training. Honestly just doing walks and car buffer on it. Biceps were feeling sore. The left more than the right. I think that had to do with the stone of steel slipping on me that one rep in going for extension. My warming up at least felt pretty darn good.  Really cold out today. I kept the garage door open at the beginning as I was expected someone to show up and drop off stuff but they were running late by like an hour. So log training, doing viper style.  I had adjusted my training weights based off how last time went yet again. That might have been a mistake. Assuming that last time’s weight was 85%, that would put me just under 290lbs for a single. Based off how today went, that’s a nope. So warming up with the kettlebells and then a rep with my dumbbells since I was opening up on the log with close to 100lbs. Everything below my knees felt tight doing that first rep. Seemed to go up fine but I could tell that I wasn’t getting as much hip power as I did the last two times. I was kind of chugging along and not really checking the video to compare how the speed looked. I think I was hoping that adding wrist wraps would make the top weights go better. My right biceps felt a little crampy. I think because I put on a tighter compression sleeve on it that didn’t help matters. With the progression, going up 20lbs for single lifts. Once I got to the point I could use 100lbs of weight, I switched out to my “25lbs” plates. 239lbs didn’t go up as speedy as I wanted it to. But it didn’t slow down so much that I thought that 259lbs would be a grinder of a lift. Been trying my best to not get grinding lifts for all these weeks. This was supposed to be a 90% lift and it most definitely wasn’t. I was annoyed with it. Yes a PR but still less than my best clean and strict press with a log and essentially 40lbs away from contest weight. I had hoped I was closer to using this as a viable option for USS Nats. Body aches and lifts aren’t how I want them. Trying to not get in a bad mood and break myself down. My friend had shown up at before I had gone for 239lbs. We talked for a bit after I finished with the viper pressing so I had cooled down a little bit before doing log presses. Originally was going to do 183lbs but I didn’t want to spend any more time outside than I had to and it was easier to just chuck a 45lbs plate on each side. The continued good news is no knee issues at all for these today. So into the garage after the log on the patio.  Like incline dumbbell bench pressing, doing max set with my 70lbs dumbbells for the bench supported rows. I wasn’t sure how this would go. Like I said, my biceps had felt a little tight from Saturday’s training. And I had a pretty high rep number to beat. None of those issues thankfully and I got a ton of reps done. On to sling shot dips after that. Back wasn’t as jacked up as last time as only got adjustments up to “25lbs”. When it comes to upper body stuff using multiple 25lbs, I might as well count that extra pound. I did these rapid fire. Well as rapid as I could. I just kept the camera going and that meant I had about a minute rest between sets once I started as I would need to adjust the weight. I was a little worried I’d feel that upper back stress like last time but I didn’t so that is also good. This ended the workout for today. The little shoulder muscle exercises (trap 3 and ext rot) with bands were dropped to see if that helped with my shoulders feeling better. I initially thought yes. Before I started eating dinner and stretching, I had to prepare for the coming snow storm. Took the squat rack into the garage and salted my patio, driveway and walk way. In that down time, my left shoulder started aching as well as the bottom of my right foot. Similar sensation in my foot when I had been wearing bad shoes for a few days. I did stretch and eat and ice my knees and left shoulder. Hopefully I can rest.

December 12, 2020 – Week 17, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
NY Barbell Yoke
300xpick
300x50’ in 6.09 seconds
400x50’ in 6.18 seconds
500x50’ in 7.43 seconds
600x50’ in 7.55 seconds
660x50’ in 9.36 seconds
 
Sandbag Rows
175x9 (miscounted)
 
Stone of Steel Loads (62”, tacky towel)
140x1
185.5x1
230x1
274.5x1
318x1
356.5x1
356.5x1
356.5x0,1
356.5x0
356.5x0
356.5x1
356.5x1
 
Stretching
 
Comments: Today was a no odd day. For me and for the weather. Something has been stressing me out more than normal and I’m not entirely sure what. Not sure if it is just the season or the sleep issue the past few days or that I got really amped up on deadlifts and this is the payback. But it has now manifested physical symptoms and that usually means my immune system is compromised when that happens. And I can’t tell if it is just stress stuff or if I have a cold. If I have a cold, it isn’t a bad one by any means. With how things are, if I didn’t have a home gym setup, I wouldn’t be training today as I don’t want to risk anyone else’s wellbeing. Also, gyms are being closed in the state until next year so again, home gym plan works out. As for the weather, it was super humid and foggy. And there were points where I couldn’t tell if I was sweating because I was hot or if because it was humid. It is usually very dry. Warm-up stuff felt fine so I figured I’d be ok for today. I’ve been making it a point to get the icing on my knees done each day. Yoke to start things off. Same as last time with 100lbs jumps starting at 300lbs to 600lbs. Then 60lbs on top of that for the top set, so again going up 20lbs. I followed the same warm-up I did last time with empty implement runs with none being a full out sprint right off the block and a pick with 300lbs. Knees were only achy getting under the weight to pick it up and that went away fairly quickly. I felt a little slow on the first two sets despite being essentially the same time as last time. Honestly, I felt like I was slow on everything. My forehead felt warm and my glasses started to fog up. With 600lbs I felt slower than I was. I was noticing that my breathing was off and I was holding it to try and finish rather than do forced breathing. This ended up being a PR on this yoke with the weight for time, being under 8 seconds. I did not expect that speed drop off to be so drastic with 660lbs. I knew I was feeling slow near the end as I was having the same breathing issue as 600lbs. Still under 10 seconds and I guess technically a PR. It seems that mid-500’s is where I see the times start to get slower with even small increases in the weight. My best time with 560 is 6.74 seconds on this yoke and this time’s 600 was 7.55 seconds (a PR of .45 seconds). My best time with this particular yoke with 700lbs is 10.27 seconds. I’d like to get that under 10 seconds eventually. Little break to get some fluids in and clean up. Taking my time here seeing as how the air feels thick and I can see my breath. Band rows and biceps stretching followed by a set of light sandbag rows. I was putting away 180lbs worth of weights after each exercise. Sandbag rows were really easy and I miscounted. I did one less than I was supposed to. Oh well. I was glad that my left knee didn’t ache breaking it off the floor like it sometimes does. I had already decided at this point I was going to take Nyquil before bed to insure I slept soundly (rest for recovery and sometimes my joints ache from heavy event training that keeps me awake). Stone of steel after that. Plan here was about 10lbs more than last time. It is written 5-10lbs. This was going to be the last time I purposely aimed for 10lbs more as it has gotten to the point where this has gotten very difficult. I wanted to get to the point where I could just do plate jumps up to the top weight and then worry about adding from there. I’m essentially at the contest weight for the heaviest stone of the carry and load series and that will be to 5” lower than what I’m doing. I already knew what the weights were going to be working up since it would be plate jumps so I didn’t have to worry about weighing stuff until the end when I needed to find out how heavy my working weight was. Things were feeling pretty good a the start. 274.5lbs slipped a little bit on the pick so I was a little cautious going into the last work up set. Almost 2 months ago this was my working weight. I stuck with using the older tacky towel. Then it was time for the unknown weight to be lifted. Newer tacky towel brought out. I was a little nervous as I had missed a rep last time and had to fight to recover and then had oblique stuff going on. Well first rep went up fine and then the second one was even better. Third is where the good times stopped. The pick and lap was easy but I didn’t have it crushed into me tight enough. I went up and got the extension but I was just a step too far away and it came down on the wrong side of the bar. I tried to pin it and push it over but it feel. I wasn’t thinking about the rep after that as my first worry was the floor of my garage as it had come down hard. I rolled it away and the floor was perfectly fine. But I did see a divot in my stone of steel. Worry about that later. I proceeded to have a tough time getting the stone of steel up into my lap and somehow managed to get that third lift before the next minute happened. After that, it was like trying to hold hot soup in my hands. I wasn’t recovering fast enough after that disaster of a third set. The fourth one I had a hard time picking and lapping and then when I went for extension, the left arm slipped so I put it down. Try again on the next minute. That came around and I couldn’t break it off the floor. Damn it. I took a minute to calm down and then told myself I needed to get two more lifts, regardless of the time. I reset my timer so I’d have the EMOM again. So two minutes of rest from that last attempt miss. Everything about these last two singles was tough. The pick, the lap and the extensions. I’m honestly not sure how I managed to do it with how they felt. Like even with the stone of steel in my lap, I didn’t feel like I had it secure enough to load. But I knew that staying still in a lift like this is how you die. Always be moving, thinking, planning, attacking. I let out a groan of disgust and completion after that last one went over. Got cleaned up and weighed the stone. Technically the most weight I’ve done in training for more than a single single. I’ve done more to lower height and with grip shirt and receiver gloves. These past two sessions have been the most I’ve done for attempted EMOM sessions as well. I seem to get a good bit out of the receiver gloves with the stone of steel too as far as grip but I’m trying to use this to train for atlas stones and I don’t use gloves there. So take good with the bad here. I do see though that even though I can do the competition weight essentially on this event, I still need to work on things. Cooked dinner while recovered from training. 

December 10, 2020 – Week 17, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
bwx25
40x25
 
Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
225x3
315x2
Added Straps
405x1
495x1
545x1
585x1
 
Deadlifts off Crash Mats (touch n go, straps)
445x5

Paused Ab Wheel
bwx15

Paused Side Plank Raises
bwx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: My body is a liar. Sometimes. If I went by how I was feeling and had to tell you how this workout would go, I would be off a good bit. Left shoulder and trap thing seems to be subsiding some but it is present and it was making me anxious. Like my shoulder would dislocate pulling a heavy deadlift. That weird lat/oblique sensation (not pain) also on my mind. I swear, it’s sometimes like thoughts like that are accommodating resistance I got to push through. It has been really dry lately and my sleep hasn’t been as good as it should. Been staying up later than I should too but I’m at least making sure I ice my knees before bed and do some soft tissue work. Got to find a balance where I get recovery from all three things. And been not able to slow down with work. Just rapid fire. I was pacing on the headset and my right hip flexor started acting up and I was like well damn. Warm-ups felt mostly good. Usually the right knee is the one that complains but comparatively, it felt better than my “good” knee haha. I’ve noticed that the stuff that was difficult at the start with the knee and ankle stuff has become quite easy. My treadmill stuff I’m starting to get good at keeping a decent pace the entire time. Going into high rep and light weight goblet squats to start things off. Felt ok but I could feel more fatigue compared to how these were last time. Granted some new reps added to the set with the dumbbell but I was feeling that with my bodyweight only so I took a little more rest this time. Now it isn’t like I was burning out or anything or feeling cramps or fatigue but I could tell I was feeling slower. Deadlifts after that. I was kind of hoping I would feel good for today. Not like I did. I feel that the ssb box squats and wide stance/grip deadlifts have reawakened something in my deadlift so I was curious to see if that was continuing. Going into the workout, I had assumed it was the 40-50lbs jumps as usual with the lighter weights being the rep sets and then singles. Also trying to not go too hard and end up blowing all the progress away. So plan based off how 545lbs had been last time was to work up to 565lbs with 530lbs as the weight after 495lbs. However, the workout was set for plate jumps so that would not fatigue as much. Sometimes those smaller jumps are good for priming. Lower back pump with the bar and trying to pull fast with weights. I kind of forgot what I was lifting as I didn’t mean to put on my straps for 405lbs. Didn’t feel that fast to me and I reviewed the video to see and it actually moved quite fast and effortless. So maybe strapping earlier was ok. I think I might have felt a little off form wise if I didn’t and then jumped to 495lbs. 495lbs has felt about the same as it has the past two deadlift sessions. Which isn’t necessarily strange but I feel compelled to do more weight afterwards and seem to still do that. So at this point, I was just kind of arguing in my head on what to do next. The plan was 530lbs next. Kind of. I mean really, the plan was to work up to 95% for a single and make sure that I do a weight in between 495lbs and that weight. I had sent Mr. Westerling a very long e-mail about thoughts on training and competition prep for 2021 season and one of those things had been about deadlifts. You have to commit to the pull. Chase a goal. So that was in my mind and said screw it. 545lbs again. DMX playing and I’m not sure where it came from but it rocketed up. Like, felt better than 495lbs did. I felt like I could do 5 reps with this weight. I had to double take to make sure I had this right. This was how deadlifting felt when it was good. Deadlifting is fun when it feels like this. It is tricky though to keep that going though. I wanted to go right away for 585lbs. I was going to for sure but I knew I needed to rest and actually put the weight on the bar. I was of two minds. One was saying this was happening no problem and wanting me to add 5lbs more so that it would be the most weight raw I’ve done since 2016 back injury. The other was worried that I spent this good will on 545lbs and I’d look stupid if 585lbs was stabled to the floor or started moving and stopped. That had also been a feeling I had going to pull 545lbs. It sucks and I hate it but that doubt is there. Always. And I have to do my best to do it anyways. I ended up pulling 585lbs. First, it is good to be pulling this weight again from the floor raw. Second, I feel like it moved slower than I was expecting it to after how fast 545lbs moved for me. Third, I think I bounced it away from me getting my leg drive, which seems to be a bad habit I picked up and trying to correct. Fourth, this looks to have me back to my 2018 deadlift strength. Between where I was in January and April. But I feel 600lbs is there. So another 100lbs to go. But really, if I can get to 675lbs in training, that would be close enough I think with how I’ve done. Even after I pulled the weight, the feeling of accomplishment is already fading and the hunger for more consumes. I did send a clip during the workout to see if this was 95% or too much. Being cautious. Moving on to the next thing. Crash mat deadlifts. Same plan as it has been just 20lbs more. I was chuffed that I was able to actually get back to expected lift weights on the deadlift. These bouncy pulls seem to be a good one. I remembered reading about lifters a few decades ago using a “hopper” to help with getting more work in and overload by using the stretch reflex. Those were done with wood blocks, tires or rack pins. I think these mats are a superior option as they don’t move around, won’t damage the bar or plates and I can start with a lower position and end on a higher position. They also remind me of deadlift bar pulls. As I’ve been noting, they feel heavy but these reps move fast and are piston like and quite easy looking. I think that if I was training for a show with touch n’ go like this with say tires that I’d need to change to more a breathing set style. But right now, I’m trying to build a big pull as I’ll most likely not be repping the USS Nats weight, even in the best case scenarios. After that, I finally took a break to drink something and put all the weights away before doing the paused abdominal work. These all got bumped up 3 reps. Not much of a difference for the side plank raises as I’ve done 25 (not with as slow an eccentric) with pauses. The ab wheel was tough but doable. Finished up with eating dinner and then stretching and icing.

December 8, 2020 – Week 17, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Axle Clean and Push Presses
40x1
60x1
80x1
100x1
120x1
140x1
160x1
180x1
200x1
220x1
240x1
260x1
280x1

Axle Push Presses
225x2
225x2
225x2
225x2
225x2
 
Rack Chins (yoke, straps)
bwx5
bwx17
bwx17
bwx16
 
Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
10’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx36 PR+2 reps

Paused Floor Band Trap 3 Raises/Paused Band External Rotations (right/left)
µbx15/µbx15/15
µbx15/µbx15/15
 
Stretching
 
Comments: Had some unwanted and unexpected stress the end of the day Saturday. But seem to be ok since. Been a bit paranoid with how my body reacts to stuff. Left shoulder stiff and tight and I’m not sure if it is rotary stuff or if it is mid/upper traps. Kind of baffled. Also got something (not pain) with the right oblique. Hard to describe but I’ve had it before. It’s like something is missing or impeding a little. I had felt some stuff being worked hard when I was doing SOS last time but only just showed up in the last few days. Monitoring and documenting but continuing forward. Trying to work smart with things. Such as using the hand truck to move weights around. Warming up mostly good. Knees seemed to be doing ok. I was anticipating some protesting from my shoulders but they were ok with things too. Axle for today. Again, a little concerned that things feeling off would make this not good. Plan was again singles with 20lbs jumps up to 90%. I’ve been basing things off of 310lbs as that is the most I’ve done this year with a clean and the most I’ve done honestly since I started training again after that 7 month period of debilitating nerve pain. So that would mean 279lbs. I wasn’t going to deal with that so went with round numbers. Besides, a pound or two either way really with weights. I was really trying to get things feeling right before I broke the weight off the floor. I was a bit surprised my knees were aching on these. They usually don’t and I had thought that my knees not being so fussy in warm-ups would mean no complaints here. Things were feeling pretty consistent. Wrist wraps added at 240lbs. I got the wrap right this time where the loop is on the pinky so that it isn’t forcing my thumb open. 260lbs was where I couldn’t get it to the spot on the first pop and had to adjust. It went up easy but I got a little bit forward and had to put my foot out to catch. But not the shaker that was 263lbs last time. 280lbs actually felt better than 260lbs. I think it was because I knew that this would be a two bump from the start. The press was effortless. A little confusing. I’ve been doing axle overhead since I think before I started even competing (I had a bar made out of pipe that was 2 3/8” diameter) and I can’t really recall a press at this weight from the clean that moved that well. I actually went through all my training videos where I did axle at or above this weight. I’ve had jerks but those have to be fast. I’ve had way faster cleans but I’m not rushing that. I’m not going to be able to rush the expected 320lbs or more I will need to be doing. That would tie my lifetime best and the aggressive goal is to do it more than once if possible. I was pleased that despite body aching that this seems to be on track. After that was push press from the rack. Same rep and set scheme. But finally getting back to weights I was doing before. I mean close to that is. 232lbs had been where things had stopped before having the weights dropped down and starting back up. 225lbs for today. I had to tell myself to stick to that and not go a little heavier. Because these don’t feel as comfortable as they did when I did these in the gym. I wore a hard belt when I did that weight whereas this time I did just the soft belts. Video from that time before made them all look easy so I read what I wrote so I could compare. I indicated that there was hesitancy on the first rep each set and my last set felt the best. I think I’m getting used to not being able to just rip out of the rack and go. But I feel that my 2nd and 4th set this go around were my best. On the third set, I took to wide a stance and my knees didn’t care for it. On the last set, I got a little too far forward on the dip and lost balance so essentially a bump press instead of a push press that last rep. Rack chins next. I do a set of five to get things ok. And usually those first few reps feel garbage. For whatever reason, the straps digging into my wrists felt more noticeable this time. Left side shoulder on the posterior side was grumpy the first few reps of the first actual working set. It seemed better over the other two sets. Been doing soft tissue work for the shoulder. Perhaps a bit too aggressively on Sunday. Just chipping away at the reps here as planned. Was tougher than expected with the reps. Then incline bench press. Has been sets and reps for a few weeks and months now. So for this time, max reps in a single set. There have been weeks where I felt like I could piston out the reps and then see fatigue others. This was an in between feeling. Light warm-ups. I put on wrist wraps for this set (been going without since high reps). I hit a wall at 32 reps and figured I’d regroup for a few seconds and reclean the dumbbells and keep going. My thoughts on this being that last time I did this, I did the same thing because I didn’t want to end up doing less reps than the last time. I had done 32 reps I think the first time and got only 31 and then recleaned them to do 3 more reps. So I wanted at least one more. Ended up with 36. That was tough. I’m not sure what is next on these. Not looking forward to the rotary cuff stuff because it gets difficult and I get a deep burn in my shoulders on these. And now I don’t know if it is too much or not. Left shoulder is the only one that seems to be acting the fool on me. But I can’t tell if this is shoulder or trap related for that. I didn’t even bother to try and do the external rotations as straight reps as I could feel the fatigue from all those incline dumbbell reps so I just got the tension off about halfway into them and then resumed. Both sides were feeling it that way. Felt ok immediately afterwards. Stretched and ate dinner and then iced my knees and shoulders. I did end up taking Tylenol before bed as left shoulder was stiff and sore and my wrists were aching a little. I wanted to try and sleep.

December 5, 2020 – Week 16, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walk
Turns at 50’
120x100’ in 13.70 seconds (right)
120x100’ in 13.76 seconds (left)
No Turns
170x50’ in 6.27 seconds
210x50’ in 6.97 seconds
260x50’ in 7.65 seconds

Sandbag Rows (long ways)
175x5
225x5
275x3

Sandbag Loads (62”)
225x1
275x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1

Stretching
 
Comments: I stayed up late Friday evening as I didn’t start my pot roast until later and it was a big roast so I ate dinner late and then I wanted to make sure I did soft tissue work and iced my knees. I figured that would make me sleep well. Not really, a bit of tossing and turning. And odd dreams but I managed to sleep a little past noon. It was raining all last night so my hope was that it would have stopped and dried up some by then. Left shoulder and lower/mid trap continue to be achy. I don’t feel like any strength is lost but it gets annoying. Right shoulder seems to be fine and that is usually the one that acts up with biceps tendonitis in the past or having anterior pain on some pressing. But it has been good for a while now. I was slow going getting ready for training. I was reviewing information related to training and planning out costs for different options with procurement of equipment. So it got later than I had planned it to be. Granted, only the first exercise would be outside, I still didn’t want to be training in the street after dark. It was cooler than I thought it would. But that is winter weather. I wasn’t expecting it to be as humid though. Warming up felt fine and good. Usually my knees feel more cooperative on this training day. New flavor of BCAAs that tastes a lot better than the last flavor I had but it did make me burp a bit. Always an interesting to see what each flavor does. No issues with my knees warming up for the farmer’s walks. Same plan as last time, just 10lbs more per hand. My warm-up plan with doing the empty handles a more casual pace down and then accelerating after the turn is working well. Not feeling as much hamstring tightness. Turns need work. The sooner I get to doing enough weight where I can put on 45’s for these, the better. Reason being is that it will allow me to see how well I can really maneuver and what kind of turn style I need. Last time it was 25’s and this week 35’s. On my first run, I felt like I overshot and made too wide a turn. On the second run, I cut it tight and ended up knocking over the cone. My two runs were faster than my slowest run last time but slightly slower than my fastest run. The turn needs work as I need to get it so I minimize the torque on the wrists, I don’t venture out of the lane and I don’t touch or knock over the cone. Rules indicate that doing so results in a 2 seconds penalty. From there, moved onto the straight shot stuff. If I based these runs off how I felt, I’d say that the first run felt perfect and speed, the second run I felt like I was too slow overall and especially at the start and on the last run, my start was slow and I got off balance a little near the end of the run. Reviewing the times, my first two runs were actually pretty close to what my times have been for those weights. I think the biggest surprise to me was that my last run was actually faster than my last run the previous session. It seems that I’m starting to adapt to the increased workload I’m doing to my knees and ankles. I got all my stuff out of the street into the garage before getting started with the sandbags. I put the weights away between sets of the sandbag rows. I was a little anxious for these after how they went last time. They had felt tough and I felt more biceps than I would’ve liked on these. I didn’t have any issues last week with the sandbag really and nothing other than it being heavy for the stone loads. The picks had been fine for those. My thinking was that perhaps the box squats and wide grip pulls being added back had fatigued stuff that wasn’t used to be fatigued last time. So there was some relief that stuff felt and moved like usual mostly on the sandbag rows. I was still a little anxious for the sandbag loads though. I feel like I’ve been a little slower to do the extension on theses to insure that I got the sandbag tight and not going to miss. I was tossing the two warm-up singles over the bar. The plan today was the 313lbs for 7 singles EMOM style. Going to try my best to not get sloppy. Really wanted to finish without having to shove a rep over the bar like the last two times. Things didn’t start off well in that I couldn’t hear my timer go because it synched up with a loud part of the song that was playing. I think I waited like 5-10 seconds after it went off before I realized it must have. So already playing catch up. I did remember from last time that I can have the sandbag a little closer to the bar and still have room to fit between the yoke with this wide bag so I did adjust it after each lift. The third lift I literally just threw the thing over so it was a good 2’ away from the setup haha. Number five was the only lift where I had issues with the pick to lap it. I was worried I didn’t quite make it on the last one but it went over without me having to readjust or shove it. Definitely was breathing harder as this went. But my extensions on these felt good. Finished up with stretching and then eating. 6 months to go.

December 3, 2020 – Week 16, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
18” Box Squats
bwx25

18” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands
65x10
Added Bands (+25lbs bottom/+44lbs top)
65x5
95x2
125x2
155x2
185x2
215x2
245x2
275x2
 
Wide Grip Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
365x1
365x1

Planks
bw+45x60 Seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 Seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I’m getting paranoid about aches in my shoulders. It is mostly the left one but sometimes the right. I think that I’m concerned the direct rotary work is too much. I mean, there is obviously a weakness in this and especially in the left side. I spent time during lunch break setting things up for this evenings workout. Smarter, not harder. Using the hand truck. I also moved some stuff from the garage to the patio area, like my circus dumbbell. My thoughts being that if I’m going to use it, it will be out back and not in the street. In most cases that is. And with competitions planned, it would be by itself. Going all in on making home gym has me thinking about what I would need and logistics. As well as what can go where. I think part of it is realizing that I’m alone and going to be alone and I don’t need a nice patio to entertain people if I don’t want or like guests. Kind of bleak. But that’s where I’m at and leaving it there is allowing me to keep functioning and working. Not all is that though as I didn’t even have time to order a new desk chair before my parents got one. So that is back in business haha. It’s like they knew my fat ass was going to break my chair soon. Trying to get stuff setup so that I can move through the usual stuff, get the squat and deadlift stuff done and then take a break to put crap away before doing abdominals. I did not ice my knees last night as it ended up being later than expected before I was ready for bed and I wanted sleep more than I wanted to stay up another 30 minutes. Knees were aching on the knee health stuff but not so much other things like for my ankles other stuff. Plan was using the ssb and a little band tension and work up to doubles with 30lbs jumps up to 50-60% of what I feel 1rm would be. Changes were made. First was the rack. I got rid of the one lower cross bar that I kept hitting my head against. This allowed me to actually get under the bar to unrack. Another thing was adding the handles to the ssb. I had something to hold on to and it added 2lbs to get the bar 65lbs. Another thing was increasing the box height an inch. Worry was that since I’ve not done real squatting in so long, that I may not have that lower back control and ROM. All my squatting has been with anterior load and high reps. Body weight for high rep set. I felt ok. Maybe not as fast as I was feeling last time. I can definitely say that my inner thighs and hips didn’t feel as off as they did that week. Bar for more higher reps and then on to bands. This was the last change. I adjusted the setup to 1; be more in line with my body and knees and not pulling forward and 2; adjusted the anchoring system so that there wasn’t so much slack on the box. This meant I could use a lower band tension but still get close to what I was using last time but increase the tension off the box by over 20lbs from what I had before. Plan was to work up to 275lbs or so. Assuming that my knees were happy and it was moving fast. Knees were weird today as some sets it felt like the worst thing ever and then the next set nothing. I definitely feel like I was moving faster with some of these weights compared to last time. Apparently some of the plates I have don’t fit on my ssb so that slowed things down a little near the end. I stuck to only using the lightest of my midsection support stuff for these to keep myself from going too heavy too fast. Keep moving fast. I’m able to be more aggressive with the unrack of the weights with the crossbar gone. I did check with Mr. Westerling to see if the bar speed was within acceptable parameters for the day. Not that it wasn’t easy but this week is supposed to be an easier week compared to the floor pulls and such so trying to not burn that week’s training from this week’s training. After that I moved to the garage for pulls. Wide grip deadlifts clicked a bit quicker this time around. Plan this time was work up in the plate-quarter-plate jumps to 365lbs and do three singles. Really feeling these in the hamstrings. A little slower than 315lbs (at least how it felt) but that is a 50lbs jump. Only my last pull felt like I slowed down any from pull to pull. Felt good with these lifts today. The rest of the workout was dedicated to planks. As has been the case with lower body session, first half big things and second half abdominals. So this was where I spent my time getting rehydrated and putting away all the weights. Hand truck certainly makes things a bit smoother and less precarious. I had thought I’d have more of a readjustment for the planks but after one session I seem to be back in the saddle already. I think the upper back stuff and supporting my shoulder girdle on the planks has distracted me from noticing my shoulders for the time being. Prepped dinner while I stretched and then iced my knees after eating.

December 1, 2020 – Week 16, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Viper Presses
Kettlebells
15’sx5
Log
90x1
110x1
130x1
150x1
170x1
190x1
210x1
230x1
240x1 (weighed at 244.8)
 
12” Log Strict Presses
170x2
170x2
170x2
170x2
170x2
 
Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
15’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx20
70’sx20
70’sx20
 
Slingshot Dips
bwx10
bw+25x8
bw+50x5
bw+75x5
bw+100x10
 
Paused Floor Band Trap 3 Raises/Paused Band External Rotations (left/right)
µbx15/µbx15/15
µbx15/µbx15/15
 
Stretching
 
Comments: What a crappy day I had at work. System not working, coworker mad at me and I broke my chair leaning back to stretch out my tight back. But if I take into consideration how many really bad days I’ve had this year a few months ago, this was really nothing. If this is a bad day for me now, this is a charmed life. First day of December certainly felt like it. Cold, windy and pitch black by 5:30PM. I kept the garage door closed for training today not because it was cold but because of the wind. I didn’t need any more acorns and leaves in the garage. I had made sure to do soft tissue work and ice my knees the past two days and I think that what I’ve been missing here is that not so much slacking on that as that the event work is harder on the knees then the other stuff I do and I just feel that when I’m warming up on first training session of the week. I’ve noted in the past that usually the last session of the week the warm-up stuff feels the best knee wise. I was a little leery about stuff today as biceps sore from event training and my shoulders feel tight. The difficulty I have with the band external rotations on my left side gets me a little anxious that something is wrong with that shoulder. Warm-ups felt fine. Log again. Plan again being viper pressing. I had adjusted my training weights based off how last time went. So the plan for the evening was 230lbs for the top set. Last time, I had not put on any support gear of any kind so that I kept myself from pushing too hard, too soon. It had been close to 3yrs since I last did this exercise. This time, I was allowing myself to put on the support stuff as per usual, minus wrist wraps. That would keep me from going too heavy. It was cold and I was feeling bit off at the start with just the empty log. I need some weight on it for balance with the pop. After 170lbs, I switched out to using my 25lbs plates on the log instead. I then added my hard belt. The newer one that is a bit thicker. 230lbs went up smooth enough and I felt tempted to go up a little more like I did last week. I also wanted another go with a rep using the belt to get used to it as I felt tight in the lap. I think it was within the parameters still even with the slow down at the transition. I ended up weighing the log as part of an online contest for Reddit to see what it was. Almost 5lbs heavy. I think it is official that my 25lbs plates are actually 26lbs at this point. I’m not sure if I should only be counting this with log as that is when I will be using all the 25’s it seems. I’m not sure if worth pointing out on squats or deadlifts if only using a pair for that extra 2lbs. I know that some of the 45lbs plates are heavy too (the smaller ones I use for the SOS).Essentially 12lbs under my best viper press. Strict pressing out of the rack followed that. I had adjusted the weights since I went 2lbs heavier last time to reflect that going forward. Different PRs for viper and strict being tracked right now. Same with axle in that clean and push press and out of rack. I was a little anxious that my shoulders would complain on these as they felt stiff. Only seemed to be an issue for the left shoulder on the very first set and then no real issues after that. No knee issues at all for these today. Garage work followed. Rows on the bench. Trying to get adequate rest more for the biceps than anything else. Today was planned 3x20 which was pretty easy to do. On to sling shot dips after that. Back needed these I guess as I was able to get stuff to shift with no weight, 25lbs and 50lbs. Usually after one thing, I’m good. I did these with no real rest other than the time it took to put another 25lbs on the belt. So I guess technically I’ve been doing 104lbs. I think I did these rapid fire as this is kind of easy compared to what I’ve done and can do on these. But have to be smart. Last set was a bit tiring after the others and I could feel some stress in the upper back on the left side. That sometimes happens that I feel the upper back being stressed on some sets and not others. Outside for the rotator cuff stuff. Kind of not looking forward to this part of the workout. Not the Trap 3 raises, I like those. The band external rotations I don’t like because they are very, very hard for the left side compared to the right side. The insides of my shoulders feel sore when I’m done. I am noticing that on the t3 raises, that my left side is slightly harder. The floor tactile allows me to insure that both are getting full ROM. I ended up getting a second pair of micro bands so that I can go from one right after the other rather than have to undo one set to get them moved for the next exercise. First go through of the band ext stuff was tolerable but tough for the left side. Right side was fine. Second round was very tough for the left side and mildly tougher for the right. Cleaned up stuff and ate a roast before stretching and icing.

November 28, 2020 – Week 15, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
NY Barbell Yoke
300xpick
300x50’ in 6.11 seconds
400x50’ in 6.19 seconds
500x50’ in 7.25 seconds
600x50’ in 8.08 seconds
640x50’ in 8.56 seconds
 
Sandbag Rows
175x10
 
Stone of Steel Loads (62”, tacky towel)
171x1
214x1
259x1
303.5x1
348.5x1
348.5x1
348.5x0,1
348.5x1
348.5x1
 
Stretching
 
Comments: Maybe I’m just getting well rested for a few days or food outside of what I’m used to eating is the culprit but haven’t really been sleeping in as much as I was expecting I would yesterday or today. Maybe I’m not feeling like I have to sleep the holiday away like I usually do. Even though today is the actual anniversary of Jenkins death, I just treat the four day holiday as it. I dreamt it was raining and that made me wake up but I could see light through the window and tried to go back to sleep and get comfortable. And sometimes just living can make things tougher than necessary. Like say impromptu carrying a small child up a flight of stairs in your arms while they are wrapped up like a burrito. For fun. And because they asked you to. I am that uncle. My older nephew saw my deadlift from Thursday’s session and wanted me to lift things Friday. I lifted I think 25kgs wearing an oven mitt with one hand. My right biceps was still sore from the muscling up of that one axle clean to my shoulders. And I don’t think my knees like me walking up steps with an anterior load. They didn’t like getting into my car to move it out of the garage. I woke up and figured that I’d start lifting around noon. I’m getting used to the new stuff in the warm-ups. I have been thinking about how the warm-up would be for competition purposes. Obviously not a concern at least until June 2021. But I did notice from just seeing what I’m doing and that some of the things have applications to events/exercises outside of just the knee and ankle health. So time to actually lift. Yoke again. Same as last time in that working to a top set and all runs for 50’. Both hamstrings tight from deadlifting. Left hamstring still perpetually tight and sore. More so than the right. Both have tightness in the knee insert and I imagine it is from the newer mobility stuff and reintroducing old exercises.  So for yoke today, 100lbs jumps starting at 300lbs to 600lbs. Then just 40lbs more so it was 20lbs over last time. I tried something a little different from last time to warm-up. I did the empty walks with the yoke. Casual and slow pace and not really sprinting off the block. Building speed over the set rather than trying to go 0-60 in an instant. I then did a pick with my start weight to just get a feel for things before going. I think this helped a little. I was very concerned that I was moving slower last session. I seemed to be somewhat close to normal this time around. Family stopped by after 400lbs. My nephews wanted to see me workout before they left. I was apparently moving too slowly for my older nephew. I told him I will go when I go haha. Not rushing 500lbs just because you say so. I was a little leery as my right knee was aching a little after that run. But it wasn’t present the rest of the workout. I got a little off balance with 600lbs. Very close to my best time with this weight. My middle to lower back were feel quite sore (good sore) so I was hoping that 640lbs wouldn’t be too slow. I felt pretty sold with this. Slower than I would’ve liked but good considering. It actually looks pretty good on film. It just felt slower to me than it actually was. A little break in the action, with band rows followed by some stretching and then just a set of my light sandbag for rows. Felt ok and good. This is going to be easy stuff. It didn’t feel like it was tough to pick up like sandbag stuff was last week so that was something. Left knee gets tight sometimes at the start to get sandbag started. Stone of steel after that. Plan here was about 10lbs more than last time. It is written as 5-10lbs but things have been feeling good so keep on keeping on. I mean last time these were pretty good and felt better than the session before that (where I felt crushed and needed a deload the following week). However, some wind out of the sails with how heavy sandbag felt last week. Picks were feeling pretty easy. I was keeping an eye on the right biceps. Second lift I kind of held on my chest a bit too long and I was getting light headed. I think part of it was seeing how holding it high like that would feel for a carry and the other was that it felt like my ankles weren’t cooperating in triple extension like usual. I’m wondering if it is a tradeoff with getting more extension in my thoracic spine by not going on my toes to keep my center of gravity stable. I’m not sure how adding 10lbs made it 10.5lbs heavier than last session. I wasn’t expecting it to be this heavy but still works. I was feeling good for the 5 singles EMOM style. However, I kept rushing the load. Not getting full extension and mistiming and misgauging. Resulting in me grabbing the bar on just about every lift and missing the first attempt of a 3rd single. I was breathing quite heavy after that mess up as I had much less recovery sticking to the EMOM timing. I cut it short on the fourth one as I felt like I was going to have a twinge in my oblique (sometimes happens on log press). I also had apparently reached the end of my music library so I just had silence and my own heavy breathing to soothe me. I wanted to make sure I didn’t mess up the last lift and got it without grabbing a hold of the crossbar. I noticed afterwards that my right middle finger was bruising at the nail as I think I smashed it during the EMOM. I took Tylenol and a weight gain shake before I put everything away and stretched.

November 26, 2020 – Week 15, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
bwx25
40x20
 
Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
Added Straps
455x1
495x1
545x1
 
Deadlifts off Crash Mats (touch n go, straps)
425x5

Paused Ab Wheel
bwx12

Paused Side Plank Raises
bwx12/12

Stretching
 
Comments: I was actually pleasantly surprised with how easy going this week ended up being when it came to work. I think this is the first Thanksgiving where I’ve been able to train the same day since lifting at home and the home gym doesn’t close. I made it a point to ice the knees before (I always try to do so after training, it is the off days I am lax) to see if that can help things. It took a bit to fall asleep last night and I kind of didn’t want to get out of bed to do anything but I had to. Pretty much meant a late breakfast and then an early dinner so had a plan for starting training at 3:00PM. I didn’t get in my usual soft tissue work this week on my lower back (I have a foam roller and car buffer for soft tissue but my parents have percussive massager that seems to help more for the back). Lats were feeling Tuesday’s training. So for the workout, it wasn’t terribly involved one so it was ok giving myself 2.5hrs to finish and clean up. My left knee felt fine but my right knee was acting up on some things. My lower back and hamstrings didn’t feel as touchy and stiff as they did on Tuesday. High rep and light weight goblet squats to start things off. Knees a tiny bit achy but my muscles felt good. Almost rhythmic. Used to kind of loath the higher rep, light weight squat stuff as just exhausting for the sake of exhausting but they feel nice with low volume and alternating between squat to box and box squat. I don’t feel like they fatigue nearly as much or even at all at this point. However, I think that will come back the moment I stop them for like a week or two haha. So then on to the deadlift. I was going to put the main event or the most important but that is kind of biased as everything is important with the training to come together. I should rephrase to say that it was the thing I’d been thinking about since the last time I did these. Weighted in my mind as high priority. I impulse bought a deadlift jack (which I somehow didn’t put together exactly right, oh well) to help with loading the plates on so my lower back doesn’t get all pumped from bending over so much. Goal for today was to work up to 90% for a single based off how I felt. I felt I had a little more leeway this time with having 90% as opposed to 85% as I know I tend to push things and I don’t want to suffer burning out too soon on deadlifts. 1 because I hate it (it took months to get it back on track last two times) and 2 because I will be disappointed that that was all I could muster(sub 600lbs Craig? Come on now). So initially my conservative plan was to do 525lbs this time and then do 555lbs next time. I had told Mr. Westerling last time that despite wanting to be as strong as projected (545/585/615) that I was probably closer to 585lbs then I was 600lbs. He did suggest that if I felt good to try a more aggressive jump (535/575). I kind of told myself to see how things went do 40-50lbs more than last time. I was really trying to work on bracing off the floor today. Feeling tight. I was focused on a single pull for 225lbs and forgot it was for a double. Those first few sets the weights feel heavy to me. Like 135lbs feels heavier than 275lbs does by the time I get to it. Maybe because I know I’m just doing a single? Might be in my head but I felt like 405lbs didn’t move as fast as it should. I was at least not feeling like this was more lower back then usual to break the weight off the floor. As I got up in weight, it felt slower than I would’ve liked. I think with 405lbs not being something that would be super easy I can do 20 reps no problem feeling, I rocked with 455lbs too much. That bad habit of trying to get more leg drive that actually knocks the bar off my shins and makes the start out of position. I do wonder if straps make this more likely to happen or if I just wear straps when it gets to the point that I don’t trust my positioning and try to do this. In either case, I made it a conscious effort to not do that with 495lbs. It felt slow, not fast enough for my taste to say that I was confident that 50lbs more wouldn’t be a stilted herky jerky grinder of a lift. I wanted to think that it would be a smooth pull. After the fact I found it was just a tiny bit faster than my 495lbs pull from last time. I took a gamble and went for 545lbs. It would be 20lbs over the most bar weight for a pull from the floor I’ve done in over a year. 20lbs more than what I pulled first deadlift session at home when this whole COVID-19 restrictions started. I was nervous. What if I was wrong and this just stalled right off the floor and I mess up all these months of training clawing back to this? I don’t like to think about but I’m sure that if I missed this pull, I would’ve felt destroyed. I know that isn’t healthy. Small steps at a time. I was really focusing on this and getting everything tight. I ended up getting a cramp in my right upper abdominals before I went for the pull. I wasn’t going to let that distract me. I ended up being successful with this pull. Definitely more than 90% pull but not 95%. Probably somewhere between. I felt I had a double for sure, maybe an ugly as triple. I compared it to my 525lbs pull from March and it was about 1.5 seconds faster from start to lockout. I feel like I have 575-585lbs there for a max. But now I got to figure out what to be doing next time so as not to overdo it. That is my fear and paranoia with deadlift stuff right now. Moving on to the next thing. Crash mat deadlifts. Didn’t take nearly as long after my top pull to get ready for these haha. The plan was just 425lbs for 5. Much like last time, it felt heavy but moved well. I feel I adapted to these a bit as I was moving at a much quicker clip this time around. And the first rep didn’t feel like garbage. But that could be from not cooling off. Abdominal stuff after that. Same as last time with the holds and pauses but two extra reps for each set. Even with the slight abdominal cramp, these were pretty comfy. I figured it made more sense to cool down and then clean up and eat a big, big dinner and then finish up the stretching and recovery stuff.

November 24, 2020 – Week 15, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Axle Clean and Push Presses
33x1
53x1
78x1
103x1
123x1
123x1 (oops)
143x1
163x1
183x1
203x1
223x1
243x1
263x1
 
Axle Push Presses
208x2
208x2
208x2
208x2
208x2
 
Rack Chins (yoke, straps)
bwx5
bwx17
bwx16
bwx16
 
Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
10’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx20
70’sx20
70’sx20
 
Paused Floor Band Trap 3 Raises/Paused Band External Rotations (right/left)
µbx15/µbx15/15
µbx15/µbx15/15
 
Stretching
 
Comments: Lower back was beat up from last week and I’m not sure why. Perhaps doing real squats had something to do with it. My understanding is that turns with farmer’s also unevenly loads the spine. Like I said, I felt weaker picking up sandbags then I had felt the past few times. Usually best thing is hope, rest and move around (go for walks). My knees were feeling better and I had thought perhaps the new stuff was enough on its own but doing warm-up stuff and working out this session, it became apparent that I need to keep up with icing. I don’t like that it seems to be a daily thing now to keep stuff feeling good and happy. Upper back got crampy doing the last bit of the warm-up exercises. Got a new light installed for the porch that is motion sensor when it gets dark. Works perfectly. I still have the flood light just in case since that thing can get very warm and I might need it if conditions get frigid haha. Axle for today. I was a little concerned as my lower back had been stiff during warm-ups and I was going up in weight. Also thinking about a few things that might distract me (competitions moving/cancelling in 2021, Thanksgiving, etc). After talking with Mr. Westerling after last session, he convinced me to return to my usual style of axle clean where I don’t pull from hang. What a difference. So fast. I made some mistakes with plate math. I was to start out 10lbs heavier for the 20lbs jumps to match up and make sense. Resulted in me doing some 25lbs jumps and then accidentally doing a weight twice because I forgot when I changed the small plates to one big plate. I was feeling good on these today. No chalk needed with how cool it was outside. I was a little concerned that I felt like the press was feeling a little harder than it should (I mean still easy but not super duper easy like 100lbs more there no problem). 243lbs was when I added wrist wraps. For whatever reason, I fiddled with them to get the loops off my thumbs and not have them tight as I would for a max lift. I think my thinking was that this was why my grip flip missed with 248lbs last time with the clean attempt from hang. It was not but it lead to another kind of suck. I caught it too low for a good pop roll but too high to really adjust it and I ended up having to almost reverse curl it with my right arm to get it racked. Christ that sucked. I corrected it for 263lbs for my planned top single. Press went up fast but I got a bit too far forward and had to chase my center of gravity down. I was stable for a moment and then brought it back to the pads to drop it. Wasn’t going to fight it and possibly injury my shoulders at this point. So comparing the hang clean to my usual style, I’ve noticed that the pop to the stomach is much harder with the hang but the forced slow down makes the transition from the stomach to the shoulders a bit more consistent. Again, I’ve only done up to 248lbs with that style. I think that it would be a helpful off season training, similar to the paused push press circus dumbbell work although it couldn’t be something where I switch to my usual style after working up to a top weight with the harder variation as the clean needs to have the groove greased. In the dumbbell, the clean is the same for both so not an issue. I got the weights for the push press but a little annoyed that I still fumbled the weights. I still got 60lbs more to go on this for contest weight. After that was push press from the rack. Same rep and set scheme but lowered percentages. So kind of getting near the weights I was doing earlier but not quite. Knees didn’t care for these today. It is really strange to me that my knees aren’t nearly as vocal when I’m clean and pressing. I could feel that I was maybe pressing the weight a little forward and not back. Perhaps the knees making me not want to rely on that. I think I noticed it a bit today because I had to do a little dancing around with my top weight overhead and that I really stressed things with that muscling up of the weight the set before. This is easy stuff though. Not going to be a problem. Looks nice on camera but unracking weights just doesn’t feel like it did when I was training at the Y. Into the garage for accessory work as has been the case. Rack chins again as my standby for reps. I didn’t feel so hot after the axle work and thought that the five reps I do for warm-up were a precursor to how much the rest of this was going to suck. Good thing I was wrong. First set felt really good and easy. My back and arms were feeling pumped. Sticking with the plan of going up just a rep across the three sets, hopefully getting to 3x20 eventually. I was a little surprised these felt as good as they did considering the stress I put my right biceps through on the botched axle clean. I did hang a little bit before each set to deload my shoulders and spine a little too. After that, incline bench press with my dumbbells. I was not sure how these would go. Plan was 3x20. Last session it was a struggle to get 15 on the last set after two sets of 20. I wasn’t feeling confident as my right forearm was feeling sore just holding the 40lbs dumbbells on my lap at the start. Pec and shoulder on the right side were also tight from that axle clean issue. I did rest a little bit more this time but these went much better than I was expecting. It was tough on the last set but nowhere near as tough as it felt last time. Well, goal achieved with getting 3x20. Now to figure out the next thing. Kind of dreading the rotary band stuff at the end. I like the trap 3 raises but I loathe the external rotations. Specifically for my left shoulder. The pauses are what kill me. It’s a deep burn. A lesser extent for the right shoulder. Doing my best to not give in and stop to let the soreness subside. I ate dinner after training and then did my stretching followed by icing my knees and shoulders before bed.

November 21, 2020 – Week 14, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walk
Turns at 50’
110x100’ in 13.79 seconds (right)
110x100’ in 13.57 seconds (left)
No Turns
160x50’ in 6.22 seconds
200x50’ in 7.19 seconds
250x50’ in 7.84 seconds

Sandbag Rows (long ways)
175x5
225x5
275x3

Sandbag Loads (62”)
225x1
275x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1
313x1

Stretching
 
Comments: Last part of the week with work kicked my ass. My “rest days” of Wednesday and Friday I ended up having to do my walks after work as I didn’t give myself enough of a buffer working through lunch to be able to do my walks before I had to clock back in. I have a feeling next week is going to be similar before Thanksgiving. I’m actually not sure how that is going to go either. I always feel down this time of year with it being the time Mike died and I feel guilty about it as this was my late grandfather’s favorite holiday. Last year had been the first time since Jenkins had died that I didn’t feel that way. Perhaps it was because I was with somebody. I don’t have that this year and I already feel it creeping up on me. Didn’t really get a chance to do soft tissue work or icing last night. I also wore the wrong shoes to go walking in my distraction. Thankfully, this didn’t give me shin splints. I ended up sleeping quite a bit. Weather is back to being warmer. Needs to pick lane. Warming up felt pretty good. A little ache in the knees at the start but it went well. Had to do some sweeping up in the street before training. Training a bit different for this day. Contest has farmer’s walk with turns so I need to start implementing that. I modified the warm-up a little as usually I would just do 50’ lengths and gradually increase the speed with the empty handles to get my knees and hamstrings ready. Since I was doing the start with turns and then passing off to 50’ straight shots, I figured that I should do my warm-ups with the turns. Go down slow and then speed up on the return trip. My thoughts with Mr. Westerling was to start the first half downhill so as to work on accerlating into the turn and then have to work uphill to come back. Make the hard parts harder so that it will be easier at competition. I felt like these sets with the light weight to start went pretty well for not doing this in over a year with any kind of weight. Turn is going to need work (kind of over corrected on the second set). Regular runs after that. I felt like I was going at a decent speed on these today but it appears that like yoke, slower than usual. I’m trying to figure out why after a week of deload. Perhaps the knee health stuff is causing some fatigue? I did try and bring my stance in for the pick as I feel like I can actually get some tension in my hamstrings that way. I might need to play around this that some as I’m not sure if the tradeoff of a faster pick and a slower start helps versus a slower pick and faster start off the block. I could also be overthinking it as the decreases are with acceptable parameters to not be concerned and I’m doing a lot of new movements that I haven’t done in a while. Into the garage after cleaning up the farmer’s walks for sandbags. Reading how I felt doing these a month ago showed a contrast I wasn’t expecting. Reps had been reduced from two sessions prior but I wrote about how good and easy everything felt. That was not the case today. I felt like my rowing and picking up the sandbag was off. Not like I was in pain or had anything limiting me. Just felt heavy. I felt like I was using more biceps then I should on the first set. I then forgot mid set with 225lbs how many reps I was to do. I had done a very easy set of 5 last time I touched the 275lbs bag. This time, it was a harder than I would’ve liked triple. The last rep reminded me of the one tough rep I had with lapping the 313lbs sandbag the last time. Not a good sign if I had that happen on 275lbs. I knew that I’d have to be on guard for the sandbag loading since last time was essentially the easiest this was going to be for some time. The warm up singles didn’t feel too bad but they weren’t as super easy as they should’ve been. The plan today was the 313lbs for 5 singles EMOM style. Last time had been EOMOM and that had been good mostly. I had trouble with lapping the third lift and then with loading the final lift. I felt like this time, I needed to be sure I had a good grip on it in my lap before loading it as I had less time to recover between attempts and missed lifts were going to suck big time. Extension felt good. Second lift I was bit too far away but still got it over. Made sure I was closer for the next two reps. Last lift was a struggle. I think with how wide this bag is that it gets caught on my thin knee sleeves. It was like I hit a sticking point on the lift coming off the floor but I regrouped and pulled through. That took a bit out of me and I couldn’t seem to keep the bag as tight to me as the other reps. Same issue as last time on the last rep. This time however, I didn’t need to do a re-extension to get it high enough to shove over. Would rather I didn’t need to shove it over at all. Stretched and got dinner ready and then iced my knees. I needed to stay up a bit since I slept in to about 1PM so that I could go to sleep. Hopefully I can recover the next two days to put in the work next week.

November 19, 2020 – Week 14, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
17” Box Squats
bwx25

17” Safety Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands
65x10
Added Bands (+3lbs bottom/+47lbs top)
65x5
95x2
125x2
155x2
185x2
215x2
 
Wide Grip Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
315x1
315x1

Planks
bw+45x60 Seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 Seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: This workout took a bit. More setup time than when I had been doing the band deadlift cycle. And it kind of dawned on me the day of so I took time during my breaks to set things up as it was going to require some new things that I haven’t been doing in a while or at the garage gym. My joints were a bit achy. Not sure if just because the weather has abruptly gotten quite frigid this week coupled with the lifting earlier in the week. Really it seems that the middle of the week workout is my achiest. Setup required moving weights, bars, mats and bands outside as well as checking to see how things would work and test integrity of the rack for something besides overhead and get band tensions. Warm-ups as normal. Right lower leg is tighter than the left. I’ve known this for years. Been a thing since the nerve issues from the disc bulge caused my left calf to atrophy. Today was box squats. Like bar on back and sit back style rather than the touch for depth style I’ve been doing. Since the back issue relapse last year around this time, most of the squatting has been the rack assisted hatfield kind. This would be real squatting again. Plan was using the ssb and a little band tension and work up to doubles with 30lbs jumps up to 40-50% of what I feel 1rm would be. Listed numbers would be 215lbs (was 210lbs but my bar is 63lbs and I added 2lbs to it). But first I had to warm-up. Body weight for high rep set. Box using my mats so about 17” and then compresses as I sit on it a little. Felt good. Loosen up the hips and hamstrings. Not as tiring as I thought it might be. Then adding the bar. Inner thighs and hips felt tight with the added weight. Unracking the weight wasn’t as comfortable as I would like. My head hits the top of my rack crossbar if I stand up straight under it so kind of have to slouch under it from away. What I have now will make due but may need to consider a better setup if I’m truly committing to the home gym. Advised here to stay light, maybe not as dynamically explosive at the start and obviously not push it if this bothered the knees. Feeling pretty easy. The jump from 155lbs to 185lbs felt like a lot for some reason. I kept to not wearing any support stuff like with viper pressing to keep myself from pushing too much and staying in my lane for right now. It’s been over a year since I did a back squat. I felt I was staying rigid but I can’t tell for certain as it looks like my lower back was rounding slightly on these and I can’t tell if that is just from the shirt moving or if that is actually what is happening. Much like with the deadlifting, this got my lower back pumped. I think that is just something I need to get used to after the back injuries on certain exercises and I just need to continue to be watchful and keep up with spinal health stuff. I think I would’ve liked if the last weight moved faster but I’m out of box squat practice. It will come back. After that I moved to the garage for pulls. Wide grip deadlifts have made a return to the training rotation. Really light to start but the jumps look hefty for the next few sessions. Just plate-quarter-plate jumps up to 315lbs for three singles. The movement felt off and awkward the first two sets and then it seemed to finally click with 225lbs. Made sure I rested a little bit and didn’t just pull the working weight one right after the other. I feel like the first set I was a little hesitant and then the other two I was pulling them like nothing. The rest of the workout was dedicated to planks. This lull I felt was the best time to get liquids in me before I had to flex my core for a while and put away all the damn weights before it got even colder and I had sore abdominals to also contend with. I wasn’t too sure how these would go really as mostly been doing abdominal work requiring movement as of late. I was able to hold up fine with minimal discomfort that comes from the cramping and fatigue. I did think maybe the rotary cuff work was fatiguing my shoulders from supporting my bodyweight but I reminded myself that it has always been like this. Stretched and ate pot roast, followed by icing my knees.