January 30, 2020 – Week 9, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Hatfield Squats to box (18”)

60x10

150x5

220x3

270x3

330x3

380x3

430x3

480x5

Romanian Deadlifts (top start)

45x10

135x5

185x5

225x3

275x3

315x3

365x1

Added Straps

385x15

Pulldown Abs (pulldown station)

60x25

90x20

120x15

Side Planks

bw+15x60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I need to get sleep back on track to normal hours. Been finding it hard to get to bed before 12:30AM most nights. Been subsidizing my sleep by hitting snooze for about an hour to make up for it. Something has to give as I know I that is a dangerous game of getting to work late. Eye twitches have been back but I’m not sick and I think that is less from anything going on with my body and more to do with not getting enough sleep. I’m still making progress on things so that is good. Bodyweight has been consistently above 280lbs in the morning and above 285lbs in the evening. Maybe I’ve finally gotten above that 275lbs plateau in bodyweight? Hard to say though as I’ve been heavier in the past but it didn’t last very long. Another late workout start due to the oversleeping in the morning to make up for the undersleeping at night. Been keeping up the icing for my knee(s) and walking. Seems to be getting better with me being aggressive with that and soft tissue work. Gym was pretty crowded where I wanted to be. Warming up at least felt fine. Hatfield squats again. Kind of cramped quarters with gym bros deadlifting, again. No set weights and reps for the hatfields other than working up in triples and doing 10lbs more than last time for a set of five. I was thinking less reps needed to warm-up at the beginning if I kept the reps consistent on the way up. I messed up my math at the beginning as the plan was 50lbs jumps all the way up after I started doing triples. I was 10lbs shy of that and had to increase the jump for one set. Other than my knees feeling achy, this was good. I had not packed my ratchet belt (thicker) in my haste so I was a little concerned if my other belt would provide enough support to keep my back rigid and be able to brace my abdominals. No real issues there. Nice and controlled and fairly speed concentric. This is the most I’ve done on these since I’ve started doing them again. Not really saying too much when this is about 100lbs under my best for this rep range. But that is fine for now. It is doing the job it needs to do and I have plenty of time and room to progress safely. Romanian deadlifts next. My back was a little stiff on the left side after the squats so I was a little concerned that this might be too much today. See how things feel and go from there. Only a 20lbs jump on the top set. Still doing the holds and breath at the top of each rep. Trying to not use straps until that top set to keep building up the grip. The work up sets had a bit more reps and weight than I was expecting. Triple with 315lbs and a single with 365lbs before going for the reps. I tested out chalking up my hands to see if that would help with my grip on the bar with the straps as it is a long time under tension. It felt heavy as it usually does. Happy with 15 reps. Would’ve been happier if I matched or beat my reps from last time with this increased weight. It was definitely my limit today at 15. Next time it will be 405lbs for reps. That had been a tough set of five a few weeks ago. Pulldown abs next. Not the last item of the night this time. Reps the same with them being high but adding 10lbs to each set. Added challenge there, especially with the slick rope. Felt good on my spine. Not sure why but the 120lbs set was tough on my midsection. I had felt like nothing those first two sets and it was more hamstring stretch and spine deload. Last item was side planks. The plan being 30-60 seconds. I had been advised that if it wasn’t challenging with just bodyweight, I could add a little weight to my hip. So I did that this time. Definitely a difference in the sides as my left is the injured side but the right side is the one where I’ve strained things in my obliques in the past and it seems to fatigue faster. Minute on, minute off and then minute on. I may use more weight next time so that I’m using 25lbs. Home for food, stretching and recovery work. Probably another late night for me.

January 28, 2020 – Week 9, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses
PVC
22x10+5
Thick Bar
42x3+2
62x3+2
Axle
82x3+2
102x3+2
122x3+2
142x3+2
162x3+2
182x3+2
202x3+2

Axle Strict Presses
222x3

Axle Push Presses
222x15

Pulldowns
60x10
90x10
130x5
170x5
210x5
250x25 PR+1 rep

Precor Pec Flyes
125x10
165x8
205x5
245x27 PR+3 reps

Cybex Eagle NX Rows
120x10
170x8
220x5
270x25

Safety Squat Bar JM Presses
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x10
150x20

Stretching

Comments: Had little more activity than usual outside of my normal routine. As in stuff in my comfort zone. Little traveling, different foods, different beds. Left hip is feeling less tight but still has that sensation at times that it isn’t where it needs to be or there is a gap. Right knee is sore at times. Doesn’t seem to have a rhyme or reason to it. Just decided to be sore Saturday evening after training. Been icing more frequently. I had this before when I was training for East Coast Most Powerful in 2018. It seemed to go away after a few weeks. But with all that, I wasn’t sure if training would be on par. I was really tempted to just take the day off and just sleep. Warming up felt pretty good. Knee wasn’t bothering me on most things. I meant to do foam rolling but I forgot in my haste. I had overslept to make up for weird sleep and that meant I had to go to the gym later. Axle to start things off again. Same as last time, just working up to 20lbs more for the top sets on the strict and push press clusters. Both racks were in use. The one I wanted was the one with the lifting platform as I can adjust the height. Bunch of younger gym bros doing deadlifts but I was able to workout while they were lifting. I did end up getting roped into reviewing technique and advice on deadlifts. Knees were aching on push presses. Strict pressing felt ok. I was doing my best with loading my hips and not my knees for the push pressing. Lockouts were feeling pretty good. Like log last week, top weight was done for a triple on the strict presses and then after 5 minutes rest, max push presses. I seemed to not be in a rush. I did put on my copper knee sleeve to help with the knee on that set. I didn’t rush my setup. I did have some balance issues but I was able to recover. No lower back stress on these reps so that is good. Definitely had more there but it felt like a good place to call it. I knew this was an improvement for me. The rest of the workout had 10lbs added to the top sets for each exercise but the weight jumps were bigger to cut down on fatigue. Just like before. Goal being more weight and try to get a lot of reps. With the pulldowns, following the first few sets in quick succession and then take a breather for the top set. Honestly, it’s what I’ve been doing with most of these now. I felt pretty darn good on the pulldowns this time. Last time, I didn’t feel like I was getting the reps I wanted and today I felt like I wasn’t going to have a problem. I think it was more my grip this time than my back really. One more rep was good, especially since I went up a lot on the sandbag rows. Next was flyes. No wait for these, which was great considering that I was lifting later. As mentioned the last time, this time was going to be the stack for the top set. I felt fatigue sooner than I expected but managed to get some extra reps. It will be interesting trying to use extra weight on these the next time around. Right into the rows. Luck to not have to wait here, though I could’ve probably used it as my back was pretty fatigued now. Weights felt heavy today. Big jumps in weight. My top set weight felt like low teens was where I was going to end up but I kept on grunting out the reps. Last thing for the day was triceps work. This was a new exercise for me was ssb jm presses. I’ve done these before and they seem to feel good. Previously I had done these with chains as a floor press variation. The bar just seems to be the right groove for me. I forgot which way to set it up and that made it off at first haha. Plan here was like standing tate presses to do several sets of 10 with short rests before doing a top set of 15-20. Not with a top weight. I have more experience at the standing tate presses to get an idea of what that is so a bit of trial and error with the ssb jms. Much closer to my limit I think on these with the top weight I chose. Right arm definitely the lagging one. Felt pretty good besides the knee issue. Home to stretch, eat and do recovery work.

January 25, 2020 – Week 8, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack

Mobility Prep

Yoke (casual pace)
drop and turn at 50’
200x100’
300x100’
straight shot
400x50’
straight shot (increasing pace)
500x50’ in 13.61 seconds
500x50’ in 10.82 seconds
550x50’ in 9.25 seconds
600x50’ in 9.03 seconds

Sandbag Rows
110x10
160x5
210x3
225x22

Sandbag Loads (54”)
150x10

Sled Drags (turf)
165x93’
165x93’
165x93’
165x93’
165x93’
165x93’

Stretching

Comments: I had felt good the night of training on Thursday. My left hip doesn’t feel like it’s tracking right though now. It was something I felt after doing the leg pressing for that side but it seemed to go away during the workout after “walking it off” but felt it Friday. Not painful, just tight and stiff and feels like it’s not where it’s supposed to be. Like a gap some times when moving to the left or shifting that way while turning. I can walk no problem and bear weight no problem. It’s not a good thing probably. I still want to keep options open but it seems any time I feel confident that I get a reminder to not be in a rush. Only a man. Makes it very hard to commit money to something like entry fee and memberships when I have no idea if I can be healthy. Several hundred dollars lost due to the most recent injury relapse. I stayed up later than planned and I just couldn’t force myself to get out out of bed (I had set an alarm for 8:30AM) until 2hrs after my alarm went. So quite a bit later than usual to go train. Yet again, surprised to see a lot of people there at that time. way. Started out with warm-ups. I added in some things that I hoped would get my hips right. But no dice there. Hip swings sometimes seem to traction things just right with the momentum. Didn’t feel the need to foam roll. I think I was in a rush as I had really overslept and had plans for a phone call and I wanted to get at least started with training before then, rather than wait until after that to start. Yoke again. About the same as last time but instead of stopping at 500lbs for the top three sets, I was to go up to at least 550lbs and maybe 600lbs if that felt ok. Not full speed yet. I think that I just kind of kept the first few sets at that casual pace and then worried about speeding up with the heavier stuff. I only got so many gears to keep increasing my pace. I was definitely at a fast clip pace when I got to 500lbs versus last time. I got that run in before getting a call. Got a bit cold from that I and I think I was a little distracted as I forgot that I hadn’t added weight to the yoke. So kind of screwed myself up there. My plan was to go up a gear in my gait each set and try to beat the previous time for the set with lighter weight before it. So I ended up doing 500lbs twice and that meant I’d have to go even faster with 550lbs and hopefully 600lbs. I didn’t know if I could work up to say half a gear under top speed. Hip wasn’t throwing me off but I think I was favoring the one side. In either case, 600lbs felt comfortable. A little over 1.5 seconds under my best time so again, not bad here. Next up was rows. This time, I was to do the same thing but add 10lbs more to it. That seemed easy enough. First two sets weren’t bad. Just placing at 10lbs plate on the top and go. But that didn’t seem to work on the 200lbs sandbag. The short way hold isn’t as easy to balance a weight as holding it like I was going to load the sandbag. It just kept sliding off the front. I couldn’t really think of another way to do this other than wrap a band around the bag but that seemed tricky and might make it weird to grip it depending on how secure it was. So I said screw it and went for the next heaviest bag of 225lbs. This was technically more than I was to be using for next session even. This is much heftier bag. Quite a difference between this one and the 200lbs bag. Felt I was getting tired quicker than usual. Still did the thing of going until my fingers gave and then switching to having my wrists under it to finish up. Still got over 20 reps so still good. Happy this is still going over to the heavier bags. Question is what about next time? Will I be able to get this kind of reppage on say 250lbs or 275lbs or even 306lbs? Next was something I had been still worried about. Loading. That triple extension that I seem to suck at and just use my back to do. Only 150lbs on the sandbag and to 54” but still worrisome to me. What if I get myself back to zero because of this? But I need to try. If I can’t then I can’t and I know that this is not the year for me to compete. Rather than just use the one sandbag, I elected to do both of the 150lbs sandbags. They are shaped differently and I kind of need to work on that pick-up as that requires setting things each time, rather than one set and go like with rows. The pickup was so easy on these. But I made sure I was methodical and really worked on getting my hips and ankles to work on that extension. Also practicing bracing. Only problem I think was that I scrapped my leg and had a bleed going. No issues here but it could be delayed like last time. So fingers crossed. Last thing some conditioning work. Sticking to inside with the turf. Weights are lighter but the setup and put away is easier and really this is more to work on the legs and breathing as well as embracing the suck. Based off how the pushes felt, I figured this was appropriate weight for the sled drag. Knees were a bit sore by this point. Turned out to be a bit lighter than I wanted to so I figured I’d do an extra set so that the weight would be back at the plate tree I got them from so I didn’t have to move so much stuff around. Felt pretty easy.  After putting everything away, did a 50 rep set of no weight reverse hypers, 90/90 breathing for the intraabdominals and some band traction of my left hip. I kind of forgot to do the bar hangs.  I got home and was ready for a late dinner and stretching with recovery but that had to wait as I had to help with unloading a moving truck. So ate big dinner, did what I could for recovery work and went to bed hoping I would recover. I got a few days before training again.

January 23, 2020 – Week 8, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Deadlifts

45x10

135x5

185x3

225x3

275x3

315x2

365x1

405x1

440x1

Added Straps

475x5

Precor Angled Single Leg Presses

186x5/5

276x5/5

366x5/5

456x5/5

546x22/22

Hanging Knee Raises

bwx41

bwx41

bwx41

Side Planks

bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Heading into this day, at least the day and night before that is, I wasn’t feeling too confident. I was still experiencing some symptoms that I really wanted to go away or stop. Doubts of being healthy enough for Nats this year. Not sure but I guess I got something right that I wasn’t feeling completely off. Granted, I was way more sluggish getting up and I had no idea why. I ate well, I only walked so why feeling like I was hit by a truck? Meant I’d have to rush the morning and come back after work to get ready. Oh well. But I was feeling pretty confident by the time I got to the gym. Not sure why. Just felt like this was just another day of work. Maybe I know the drill by this point with the deadlifts? Or that “full feeling” I have across my upper back, shoulders and back of my arms just has me feeling powerful. I was worrying I spoke too soon about the slingshot dips being pain free on the shoulders as the left one has been a little achy and tight. But that could just be from going hard at it so quickly. I need to savor the progress at the slow cooker pace for now. Learn what works, build slow so as not to destroy what I’m rebuilding. I think that my knee aches have been feeling better icing them once every day rather than just days after I train. So warm-ups felt pretty good. No foam roller today. Was hoping that using my car buffer later would make up for that as I was already running late. Deadlifts to start things off. 20lbs more for the top set this time. Slow, steady, control being the name of the game. I was advised I could speed things up but I’m feeling more comfortable with the controlled negatives and holds. Especially paired with the rdls for higher reps and these for lower reps. I’m also kind of the mind that I’ll be pulling max single regardless of being under 275lbs (unlikely now) or SHW for USS Nats. Not going to be timing issue with that 60 seconds I imagine. But trying to pull faster. Get the break off the floor not feel so robotic with this different style of pull for me. I think I’m getting better at that. Keep reopening the scab on my right shin where the bar hits. Every time and usually on my warm-ups. Working up the same. I felt like the top weight wasn’t going to be enough with how easy 225lbs went up. Granted I got pulled back to Earth as I went but that felt nice and speedy. Trying my best to work up double overhand until the top set and then bring out the straps. Progression being the belts and then chalk after hard belt add. I knew I had this top weight. I was tempted to go for 495lbs but not deviating since new stuff is being added. Need to be smart here. Slow down on that last rep but the first rep didn’t feel as rough as past two sessions. I definitely had at least another rep in the tank. Maybe three. I still have 210lbs more to go (or 170lbs) for the deadlift. Constant climb. Sigh. Anyways, on to single leg presses. Advised to keep progressing but only go up 5-10lbs from last time. No problems on that. Last time felt like bonesnappingly heavy lifting it off the pins. No interest in going up 20lbs a leg this time haha. I continue to be surprised with how heavy I can go for the high reps and have this not bother my lower back. Did 90lbs jumps to see if that wasn’t as harsh as the 100lbs jumps. Still feels heavy at the top set but not as bad. Maybe I’m just ready for it to be grinding my bones to dust. Left side hip was just beat and worn by the end. Limping a little from how tight it was afterwards. Before with the much lighter weight, it was my muscles and me not being conditioned that had me walking funny. Now it’s like disfiguring heavy. As per usual, the right side had an easier time with it. Now usually hanging knee raises end the day but not the case. After that was to be side planks for minute each side. So I only went for 1 extra rep each set on the knee raises so that I could see how I felt on the side planks. Knee raises felt good. Get a good workout for the hip flexors, stretch out the spine, shoulder and work the grip. Side planks felt fine. I had been doing these a little over a month ago for shorter time but greater frequency. I had stopped when it seemed that my rehabbing was too much for me to train and recover. I may use weight on these next time. Feeling good about this session. Just hope that my body is ok with it later. That delayed onset “now this hurts” seems to take 72hrs. Home for food, stretching and recovery work.

January 21, 2020 – Week 8, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

12” Log Strict Presses + Push Presses

Dumbbells

25’sx10+5

35’sx5+5

Log

90x3+2

110x3+2

130x3+2

150x3+2

170x3+2

190x3+2

12” Log Strict Presses

210x3

12” Log Push Presses

210x16

Neutral Grip Pulldowns

60x10

90x10

120x8

150x5

180x5

210x5

240x16 PR+6 reps

Slingshot Dips

bwx10

bw+70x10

bw+135x10

Neutral Grip Precor Chest Supported Rows

110x10

160x8

210x5

260x5

310x26 PR+10lbs

Standing Tate Presses

15’sx10

25’sx10

35’sx10

45’sx20

Stretching

Comments: I thought the 3 day weekend would let me get caught up on sleep it did. Briefly. But for some reason I couldn’t fall asleep Monday night and ended up going to bed at 1:00AM. I needed to get more sleep if I wanted to train so I slept in later than I should’ve. Like an hour later. Luckily I wake up with enough time to dawdle in the in the morning if I get up without hitting snooze forever. But I knew this meant it was going to be a long night as I’d have to come back home after work to get ready for the gym. Aches and pains. Lower back not liking me and I’m hoping it is more from just having to shovel Saturday than anything else. I had taken ibuprofen on Monday morning and night. Foam rolling when I got to the gym. I knew I was in for a late night as I said. Both racks were being used. Hopefully they’d empty by the time I needed them. Warming up felt good for the most part. I haven’t felt the urge to modify it like I’ve had in the first few weeks when I had different aches, pains or ailments. Log this week so on to that. Strict and push presses and then a top set of push press was the basic plan though a bit different.  Warmed up with dumbbells before heading into the rack. Knees were achy at the start on the push presses. Strict pressing felt good for the most part. I was dealing with some stomach cramping/queasiness so I elected to add the belts and support stuff for my midsection earlier than usual to get used to my breathing changing and not have surprises. I didn’t want a sweaty mess repeat like with axle. Maybe it’s because the weight is climbing and I’m aware this ties to an actual event. I don’t get freaked out about pulldowns and rows like with the competition type lifts. So for the last set of strict, no push presses after. Just rest for five and then go to the push presses. My initial lift off the rack was muddled. I could tell my legs weren’t cooperating with me today as my balance was off that first rep. To be expected when I did the sled work just Sunday and had to use a lot of calves to do those sets on turf. I wanted more reps but this was still satisfactory in that the projected max is higher still. This is just work. Work to build. Building that base back. I can say that the upper body is back to where I was or better I think on most things. Can’t say the same on lower body. I’m not going for broke on these with any grinding reps. Pulldowns with the neutral grip. Weights and work up were adjusted to have big jumps and less reps. Feeling my back pulling strongly here. I think I end up using more lean back on these versus regular grip style pulldowns. I’ve not really pushed the weight and high reps on this variation so my best with this weight was only 10 reps. I knew that had to be crushed today. Next was kind of a new one for me. The plan had been to do weighted push-ups with light band tension but I was also given the option to do weighted dips with the Slingshot. I had done these twice before. Once for very high rep sets with body weight and the other was with weight to test things out. That had been when my back seemed to shift into a better spot and I felt some relief. So I obviously wanted to do these after that. Especially with my back feeling a little off. I was advised not to do too much. Just three sets of 10 reps and not to a max set of 10 reps. The Slingshot seems to let me do dips without any shoulder pain while still working triceps hard. Was only planning on doing like +90lbs or +100lbs for that top set since I did 12 with +90lbs that one time while testing. No weight felt like nothing so I decided to do +135lbs. Adding weight was a bit trickier for the setup. Trial and error. It will be smoother next time. I feel like these are the hatfield squats for the upper body pressing muscles. Heavy but I can move fast. That top set was heavier than expected but well within my abilities. After that was chest supported rows. These were feeling better than last time. I had felt pumped up last time and now I didn’t. Every set I felt strong. I felt like I was going to just unleash on that top set and I did. Just rowing like there is no tomorrow. Last thing was standing tate presses. Some additional triceps and shoulder work. Plan here was warm-ups and then a weight I could do for 15-20 reps. I did the first 3 sets with no rest to get the joints warmed and then took a break before doing the set with 45lbs. It was way easier than I was expecting. Felt good. Home after all that. Decided to eat most of my dinner first (delicious Mississippi Roast) and then stretch as it was late. And I wanted to have another meal before bed. Things feel like they are coming together. I just really hope that my body will let me keep going.

January 19, 2020 – Week 7, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack

Mobility Prep

Rogue Farmer’s Walk (16” pick, increasing pace)

23x150’ (turns at 50’)

113x50’

203x50’

253x50’ in 15.04 seconds

253x50’ in 11.74 seconds

253x50’ in 10.03 seconds

Stone of Steel Rows

138x10

205x29

Prowler Pushes (turf)

220x93’

220x93’

220x93’

220x93’

220x93’

Stretching

Comments: I was exhausted it seems. I had every intention of going to train early Saturday morning but the weather conditions seemed dicey. Especially for “coming back to where I need to be” training rather than “competition peak of my life” training. This ended up with me sleeping until 2:00PM Saturday. Body aches. Symptoms of numbness in the left leg still present. Annoying for sure. I didn’t expect there to be many people when I got out to train and there weren’t. Or in general. But I felt pretty good considering. Warm ups were good. I forgot to foam roll. Maybe I didn’t need it. I probably do though with how tight things are. Farmer’s walk to start. Kind of the same as last time but different. I did the empty handles for the 150’ turn thing instead of a 100’ straight shot again. No idea why I didn’t have that on my camera but it wasn’t there when I got home after training so oops. Plan being 50’ runs again. Like with yoke, top weight for three sets and building up speed each set. Big jumps in weight like the yoke. Doing the commands and hand timing again. Pick up much tougher on farmer’s vs yoke. Granted, I’m using lower handles than usual and I’m gripping in the center to make this tougher for now. This was much easier than last time. I guess maybe because I knew I could do it. Person giving commands isn’t someone I usually have assist so they were a bit different paced. But that isn’t a problem, just more training. I was at least getting myself to get the timing on point, even with my more gradual start on the farmer’s walk picks to brace. A bit harder to control speed on farmer’s walk as unlike yoke, my grip can give so harder to go slow and then speed up. I think I went to fast too soon on the warm-ups so I was little faster coming into the heavy sets. Tricky to gauge. I haven’t used these particular handles for timed runs in a while so hard to say how much slower but probably 3 seconds is a fair guess. I felt good with how I felt after these all things considered. Stone of steel rows followed that up. Empty implement to start for a set of 10. Wasn’t as “wobbly” as last time. Maybe because I knew that could happen that I was more focused. The plan had been to get this thing up to 211.5lbs and I assumed that I did that by putting in a 45lbs plate and a 25lbs plate. I’m not sure that I thought as I had assumed that I only put in about 50lbs last time and due to how the weights are, got it above 190lbs. So maybe I put in 55lbs? In either case, I didn’t weigh this until after I was done. I was slipping a bit more than usual on this today. It wasn’t like it was warm outside. We just had snow and it was only slightly above freezing. I ended up having to regrip a few times. Just didn’t have enough to get one more rep. Got “stone rash” (can you call it that if the stone isn’t a stone?) from how much I was squeezing and it was slipping on me. Ended up weighing only 11.5lbs more than last time. Damn. Still more weight than last time and more weight than the sandbag rows from last week. Still not keen on extensions over bar to height as things seem to feel tender with the increasing weights. Just going to do the prowler and sled stuff on turf for the time being as long as it’s while I’m at the gym out in Lancaster for event work and as long as the distances are more than 50’. Just too much of a hassle dealing with the tiny door, the parking lot, and moving all kinds of weights around by myself. So it was five sets of prowler pushes with 60 seconds rest. I’ve forgotten how much tougher this can be as I needed quite a bit less weight. All rest were actually under 60 seconds. Idea was to move at a steady pace and not full speed. Honestly, my legs felt heavy and I didn’t feel like I could go much quicker for the distance than trudging beast of burden speed. But finished things without having to stop or take weight off. So success? I know I will need less weight for drags to keep speed since it is slightly uphill and downhill depending on the direction. Did empty reverse hyper for 50 reps again and then 25 5 count holds of 90/90 diaphragm breathing before doing some hangs before driving home to stretch, do chores and recover. Hopefully I can continue progressing here.

January 16, 2020 – Week 7, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Hatfield Squats to box (18”)
60x11
150x8
240x5
290x3
330x3
380x2
420x1
470x5

Romanian Deadlifts (top start)
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x3
315x1
Added Straps
365x16

Pulldown Abs (pulldown station)
50x25
80x20
110x15

Stretching

Comments: Body is feeling beat up. Maybe not as much as I felt on Tuesday. But achy in my joints. Back feeling a little better maybe. Hard to say. It is annoying that it seems to be up and down with the symptoms. Foam rolling, needed for sure. I had meant to ice my knees the night before but I ran out of time. Need that sleep. Obviously I’ll stop if this feels like bad pain. Can be hard to stay motivated when things feel great some days and then you get those symptoms to reemerge and essentially slap you in the face. Eye twitch came back a little bit in the one eye. But got to keep moving forward in some capacity. Warming up at least felt fine. Hatfield squats again. Alternating between these and deadlifts has been good so far. Especially building back. These kinds of squats seem to be the best thing for me right now to still work things heavy. I was trying something different with holding the rack for the hatfield squats. Trying to find something that is easier on the fingers. Lower back was feeling pump today. Not in pain but very tense and tender. Holding lower on the rack like I was doing didn’t allow me to stand up straight or keep my upper back as tight so switched back to the old style. I was a little distracted on that first set and did an extra rep by mistake. Same thing as before with the set work up sets and the plan being a set of five with 470lbs. Little hesitant at times. Last single moved well. Every rep on the 470lbs felt heavy but seemed to move easy on video. Not sure what that means. Weights will be more intense from here on out as no longer sticking to this weight from planned stuff. Romanian deadlifts next. Still big jumps on these. I was a little nervous how these would go with how tight and tense my lower back was, especially after the squatting. 50lbs jump from last time for the top set. Back actually felt good on these. Trying to not use straps until that top set to keep building up the grip from the layoff. As I was going up a bit in weight, I figured that it would make sense to add some support gear earlier on to get used to the breathing. Stuff was feeling heavy but moving well. Top weight felt really darn heavy. Like I’d get 5 reps. Just kept going though. Got five so now aim for eight. Got eight, aim for ten and so on. 14 reps here would equal the projected max for last time but I wanted more. 16 is where I got before my grip gave out. Grip and upper back had had enough. This is good. Would’ve wanted to get to 20 reps or something but still progressing. Not as winded and didn’t feel like the same crap I did on Tuesday’s workout. Smaller jumps this coming month ahead as we got to this point now. Last item for the day was pulldown abs. Same as last time. Same weight, same reps. Which is fine. I was looking forward to this as a way to deload my spine. Didn’t do it as much as last time I think because my back was stiff and tight. Still felt good. Home for food, stretching and recovery work.

January 14, 2020 – Week 7, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses

PVC

22x10+5

Thick Bar

42x3+2

62x3+2

Axle

82x3+2

102x3+2

122x3+2

142x3+2

162x3+2

182x3+2

202x3+2

Axle Push Presses

202x17

Pulldowns

80x10

120x8

160x5

200x5

240x25 PR+10lbs

Precor Pec Flyes

115x10

155x8

195x5

235x28 PR+10lbs

Cybex Eagle NX Rows

140x10

180x8

220x5

260x27 PR+2 reps

Stretching

Comments: Feels like things caught up with me. Lower back stiff and sore. Hamstrings tight. Maybe moving fast is harder on the body with yoke. My legs felt stiff and heavy doing walks. Especially Monday night. Making me feel a little cautious about things. Really hope it calms down. Nowhere near as bad as it has been. So less than before and that before was less than the before was so yeah. I guess not terribly worried but a little cautious. Stay humble. Warming up felt pretty good. I did end up doing a fair amount of foam rolling. I wasn’t feeling that energetic today. I had been feeling warm at work. As appears to be the theme for now, doing the strict and push press clusters. Same as last time, just working up to 20lbs more for the top sets. Knees were aching. My strict pressing felt okay but my push pressing felt off. Shoulders felt heavy too. Ended up putting on a belt for the top set as I didn’t want to overstress my back in the event it was too darn heavy. I hit the side of the rack walking out the weight. I was sweating quite a bit from my forehead after that set and I still had the push press for max reps. I wasn’t feeling this. I was tempted to stop the workout as my energy felt so low. I was scared I’d fail at like five reps with how wonky I was feeling. I seemed to get things okay enough. The 16^th rep was the toughest and I had a much easier 17^th rep but it came down in a way that made me feel off balance and I just racked it rather than try and go for a sloppy rep. I had hoped to get more here but it was enough that the projected max is still increasing. I was beat though and I had no idea how I was going to finish the workout. The rest of the workout had 10lbs added to the top sets for each exercise but the weight jumps were bigger to cut down on fatigue. Pulldowns, I was trying to move fast here so the working up weights, I pretty much just did the reps and then adjusted the weight and right on to the next set. Took a longer rest then for the top set. This seems to be the best way to go with these. Especially with the bigger jumps so that I don’t really get cool. Chalking up here. These were tough. I really wanted to not get below 24 reps on these. My arms and back were tired. They felt engorged (especially the right side) after that set. Next was flyes. Had to wait for this again. Which is fine as it gave time for the pump to leave my arms from pulldowns. Little hesitant at the start to see if my pecs were good and then it was off to the races. Matched the PR with 10lbs more. Didn’t require a stop like last time either. I imagine next time around will be the whole stack and I feel like I could hit another PR there. Got onto the row machine no problems this week. These felt heavy today. Not surprising after the sandbag rows Saturday and the heavy pulldowns for high reps beforehand. Chalked up the grip for that top set. Eeked out another rep PR here. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow after getting some good food, stretching, recovery work and sleep.

January 11, 2020 – Week 6, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack

Mobility Prep

Yoke (increasing pace)

2” lower pick, drop and turn at 50’

200x100’

300x100’

2” lower pick, straight shot

400x50’

Straight shot

500x50’ in 15.88 seconds

500x50’ in 10.52 seconds

500x50’ in 8.36 seconds

Sandbag Rows

100x10

150x5

200x28 PR+25lbs & 1 rep

Sled Drags

375x100’

375x100’

375x50’ (couldn’t keep going)

Prowler Drags

325x100’

325x100’

325x100’

325x100’

325x100’

Stretching

Comments: Another day. I make have spoken too soon about symptoms. I slept in and had a little numbness on the left side of my left calf. That seems to happen if I lay in bed too long I think. That’s not a great thing but it’s not pain. I know (or I’m getting used to my situation) I’m getting better as there isn’t that hesitancy to do things like bend over to pick up something or to go off balance to reach for something. I think the biggest thing is that I haven’t had an eye twitch for the past two weeks I think. I kind of forgot when it stopped. But that had been in both eyes for a while. Like since the end of September.  My sleep schedule is still off. My body thinks going to bed at 12:30 or 1:00AM is normal. It isn’t. I got to get back to sleeping like I have to get up at 6:30AM. And not hit snooze for an hour or so. I feel good overall and I believe that USS Nats is an option for me. I have kind of deadline to decide (for myself) as end of this month. There are somethings that I’m still leery about but things are moving in the right direction. There is also a possibility of doing a contest in March to qualify at 275lbs and under but I’ve been hovering a bit heavier than I usually do so I’m not certain if I want to ride the fatness wave as long as I can or go down. In either case, I was tired and I wanted sleep. No real pressure but I didn’t want it to be a late day. It just kind of happened that way. Really tempted to just do the workout at home. But can’t do reverse hypers here and those seem to be helping the back after a heavy training week. But really late start. Already afternoon by the time I got there. High 60’s so weather fluctuating a bit. I was actually surprised there were people there when I got out there. I really needed to do some foam rolling. My IT band on my right leg was painfully tight. Warm-ups felt good though. Yoke again. Changed a bit again. Started out at the casual pace but idea was to increase speed each set but not be at top speed by the end. The first two sets were for 100’ but I really didn’t want to hassle with taking the yoke outside or switching yokes so I just do a 50’ run with a drop and turn at 50’. I didn’t realize until after the second run that it was 2” lower on the pick height than I usually do. My knees were really achy but picking up speed didn’t seem to bother anything. I figured I’d keep the lower pick for the last work up run and then go to my standard for the importanter sets haha. So the top weight from last time was to be for 3 runs. I figured that to keep myself honest was to time these with commands. It is a bit hard to setup camera how I usually do since there is stuff out for the upcoming contest here next month. I was surprised how good these felt. 500lbs last time felt like a struggle. Maybe moving faster making it not feel so bad. I felt like I could just do these EMOM style. Felt slower than I thought it was that first set. Second set was about what I expected and last set was a little slower than what I thought it was. Probably because I started off quick but tapered off a little at the end. About 2 seconds under my best so well within the parameters of the day. And it felt good haha. Next up was rows. I was bit curious how these would go this week, seeing as how I did a lot of reps with the SOS last week with more weight than what I did on these the previous time. I think I knew what to expect this time. Just a machine. Doing them until the sand got into the two halves and then regripping and rowing with the wrists until I couldn’t no more. Pretty darn cooked by the end. Pleased this increased as well. Still a bit away from “actually challenging weights” but it is a confidence boost that picking up heavier sandbags might become easier for me. Last thing some conditioning work. The plan here was to do drags for five sets of 100’ with a  minute rest. It was drier outside this time and I figured the tiny sled would be easier to transport. It was. This wasn’t the casual pace stuff so I figured I could go heavier with being able to build up momentum after the initial inertia and not have to deal with as much friction problems. I was wrong. That first 20’ or so stretch was great and moved easy but then it got rough and tricky. Not good. It was even worse the way back as I ran over a moldy branch that halted things. It was rough but I thought I could keep going. Nope. Got stopped about halfway into that third set. No pebble this time, just friction too much. Even taking off 70lbs didn’t fix things. I figured the sled’s surface area was what did me in so I swapped out the prowler with less weight since I’d already fatigued myself a lot. Definitely wasn’t “medium fast” on these, even without the casual pace restriction in place. I just got halted on that last set and had to take a breather before finishing. I got in good lung buster. The parking lot is really inconsistent and a real pain to get stuff setup out there. It might be better to just stick to turf runs or concrete runs inside for shorter distances or do uphill drags on the other side as that is more consistent. After putting everything away, did a 50 rep set of no weight reverse hypers and some bar hangs before driving home to stretch and recover and eat a very late dinner.

January 9, 2020 – Week 6, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Deadlifts

45x10

135x5

185x3

225x3

275x3

315x2

365x1

405x1

Added Straps

455x5

Precor Angled Single Leg Presses

136x5/5

236x5/5

336x5/5

436x5/5

536x23/23 PR+20lbs & 2 reps

Hanging Knee Raises

bwx40

bwx40

bwx40

Stretching

Comments: It has been difficult to get things right for sleeping. Symptoms seem less and less despite weights going up. Weight (bodyweight) is up a bit as I’ve been trying to not miss any meals in the evening. I’ve always been hit or miss with a shake before bed if I’ve eaten dinner too late. Doing this I feel a lot warmer in the morning. I didn’t feel like I needed to do foam rolling this week. Really cold today. Weather is almost yo-yo-ing. Warm-ups felt good. Knees a bit achy. Deadlifts again. Based off where I got last time, I was do work up to 455lbs for a top set. Plan being 1-5 reps depending on how I felt. Warm up and then do quarter-plate jumps. Back was feeling a lot better than last time. I had not felt like this was going to be good though when I had initially read the sheet to say that it was going to be triples all the way up. But that was not the case and it was bit reduced volume so not bad work up. I do feel like I move slower with bracing the pull but it is what is needed to keep the back safe. I wanted to try and do all the sets with no straps up to the top set like last time. Not that I need the extra grip work I guess. Lower back was feeling a bit tight on the left side. Felt really heavy and slow again on the top set. Video says these were much faster and smoother than they looked again. It definitely showed a slow down on that last rep. Not quite a max but close. At least that is how it felt. Looked like I could’ve done like double from the video. Progress, just might not be fast enough. But it is a good thing. Slow, steady, control. Single leg presses after that. Same as last time but 20lbs more for that top set. I knew this was going to make my knees ache like last time. The weight is 100lbs more than what I was doing 7-8 months ago per leg. I put on the copper knee sleeves to try and help. I did 100lbs jumps today because I didn’t want to mess with putting on 10lbs plates at the start and I kind of wanted to just use up all the 25lbs plates because. I had to keep checking that I wasn’t doing the work weight the last two work up sets. It felt heavy. But it wasn’t the work set. Work set was damn heavy. Felt like my tibia and femur would crack. Like, how did I even get that first rep. I seriously thought that I was going to get like five reps but then I kept going and grunting and it got easier and there were are at over 20 reps. It was quicker on the right side but almost as difficult. Didn’t feel quite as bone crushingly heavy on that side but darn heavy. I’m still not sure how I pulled this off but I guess this is only the second time of high rep leg pressing so maybe this is the adjusted session after that first one back. Hanging knee raises to end the day. Since I had gotten a little off track with things and did weird reps, I figured I’d correct things to even them out by aiming for 40 reps on all three sets. No pec pull this time. I made sure that I got this in the right spot haha. Felt good on the back. More grip work with the hip flexors and abdominals. Left side definitely is more fatigued by the end here. Home for stretching, recovery work and meatloaf.

January 7, 2020 – Week 6, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

12” Log Strict Presses + Push Presses

Dumbbells

25’sx10+5

35’sx5+5

Log

90x3+2

110x3+2

130x3+2

150x3+2

170x3+2

190x3+2

12” Log Push Presses

190x19

Neutral Grip Pulldowns

80x10

110x10

140x8

170x5

200x5

230x17 PR+1 rep & 10lbs

Push-ups

bwx15

bw+35x12

bw+55x25 PR+10lbs

Neutral Grip Precor Chest Supported Rows

110x10

160x8

200x5

250x5

300x26 PR+10lbs

Stretching

Comments: My sleep cycle is off. I need to correct it as I’m getting maybe 6hrs of sleep a night. Unsure why but work has been busy since Friday and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Making things difficult with system issues so getting a backlog again after having things clear for almost a month. Got a deep tissue massage on Monday after work. I really needed it. Ended up extending my 60 minute session to 90 minutes. I actually felt a bit worn from it the next day but I didn’t want to get off the training schedule. It was tempting to just go home as I was tired and the snow tripled my usual commute time. I knew I was in for a late night. Not many people at the gym due to the weather so really only the dedicated. I do forget the annual influx of resolutioners that come in and you can have some good people watching. From a safe distance. Warming up felt good. My lower back was a little stiff but that’s ok. Axle was last week so log this week. Same plan as it has been the past three weeks. Strict and push presses and then a top set of push press.  Warmed up with dumbbells before heading into the rack. Strict pressing with the log felt better this time. Knees were really achy on the push pressing. Strict pressing felt better on the log this time around. Took the 5 minute rest and got ready. Probably went a little over that rest as I was nervous for some reason. My breathing and timing weren’t that great today but still managed a strong performance. I miscounted and thought I was at 17 reps before I took a bit longer of a pause but it was actually 18. I might have tired another if I had known I was only one away from 20 reps here. Didn’t feel like it was the best thing to try and struggle out another two reps since I had to pause there. I was little miffed that I didn’t get more reps but it is still good that reps are this high still with increasing weight. Pulldowns with the neutral grip. Followed that. I did need a little cooling down period haha. Same as regular pulldowns last week as in the same reps and weights with the plan being 230lbs for the max rep set. These are tougher for me than the regular style. Plan here being to try and get as many as I can get with somewhat good form and then let slop in to continue the set. And that is what I did. Push-ups after that. Was pretty easy for the work up sets again. My triceps, shoulders and pecs were sore from the deep tissue work. For the top set, I ended up using a band to wrap them together. I was getting fatigued and ended up pausing a little unlike last time to get 25 reps again. I’d have tried more but I came up uneven and it fell off my back. Probably a good sign to stop. Last thing was chest supported rows. My arms and back felt pumped and I actually felt really fatigued and weak at the start on these. But that seems to have passed as I got heavier weight for some reason. Felt stronger this time on that top set for the reps. I was spent by the end haha. I’m noticing that I can rep things out nonstop generally for about 40 seconds before I hit a wall when going all out it seems. I can go longer if I pace things. Home to stretch, do recovery work and eat a lot of tacos.

January 4, 2020 – Week 5, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack

Mobility Prep

Rogue Farmer’s Walk (16” pick, casual pace)

23x150’ (turns at 50’)

113x50’

163x50’

203x50’

253x50’

Stone of Steel Rows

138x10

193.5x30 PR+22lbs & 4 reps

Prowler Push/Treadmill Forwards Push Medleys (casual pace)

435x50’/28 Seconds

435x50’/28 Seconds

435x50’/28 Seconds

435x50’/28 Seconds

435x50’/28 Seconds

Stretching

Comments: Friday at work just beat me down. Exhausted. Traveled a bit so maybe not the best thing to be in the best condition after work or to be in peak form for serious training. Probably not wise to eat questionable Italian food served in pie tins the night before either. In any event, this meant an early start to the day and a lot of driving to get to train. Body a bit stiff but nothing a good night’s sleep won’t fix. Feeling better with how my body is responding to things just two weeks later. Not where I want to be but not in a bad place. While not optimal for training, training isn’t really at that point where it will make or break. Still rebuilding and getting back to where I was before. This can be difficult when you got some horses already wanting to cross the finish line and others not even in the stable haha. Patience. Ended up doing a lot of foam rolling and bar hangs to loosen things up. As I was super stiff and driving 2 hours that morning was a bit more than I’m used for training after the recent back injury. Or in general. But I felt pretty good considering. Warms were good. First exercise was farmer’s walk. A little bit different this time. The heavier stuff was going to be just 50’ runs. Still slow, casual pace. Getting used to walking with weight, shifting things and still bracing. Easy weight feels heavy due to not going fast. Longer time under tension. That very first set, it was to be a straight shot for 100’. It was damp outside, it was my only long run and the weight is so light that I’d travel more than that distance to get outside to set things up. So I decided to do it with a turn inside instead. Then I decided to change it to 150’ with a turn every 50’ going one way and then the other to work both ways. The weight is super light, I’m going slow and it would be an opportunity to get used to moving that way as the plan is to hopefully do USS Nats at the end of June and that has a turn for the course. Jumping up in weight with it being just 50’ runs. Making sure that I’m bracing and giving the weigh the respect it deserves. Also adding on support gear so that I get used to it and the breathing aspect of having things a little more tight and snug. Grip was feeling beat today. But I didn’t want to break out chalk today for this. It was only 50’ and I should be able to do this. It was a struggle with the top set. I still made it without rushing myself and dropping it not under control. I feel like that set, I finally got into a good gait. Not a lot of unnecessary movement. I think because I knew that being sloppy would not only be tougher on my back but it would make me lose my grip. The pick was tough. I’ve been making it tough with the lower pick height for now and gripping in the center so that the weight isn’t a gradual break and I don’t get that forward lean I like. Hit the stuff I don’t like to make the stuff I’m good at gooder. Stone of steel rows followed that up. Empty implement to start for a set of 10. I was expecting that to be easy but I guess thinking that made it not so. It rolled on me a bit and I had to regrip it. The plan here was max reps with 20lbs more than last time. Not easy plate math. The 45lbs that fit in the stone of steel definitely weight a bit more than normal so adding 20lbs made it 22lbs heavier than last time. Ok then. I wasn’t expecting much considering the drive out to the gym, the crazy amount of rdls I did and just because my chest is tight and I bobbled like 50lbs less. Imagine my surprise I hit this weight for 30 reps. Not expecting that. No sir. Felt like bracing was good. Feel this is good for right now until I get closer to doing stuff with my skill requirement. I’m still a bit leery on doing things that require me to extend into triple extension as I needed to just hyperextend my back. Last thing was sled work. Plan was just five sets of 100’ with a minute rest with the same weight. Still damp outside but didn’t seem like too bad so I got everything set and started and then 20’ into my first set (it was moving real good) I get stopped in my tracks. No clue. I figure the friction is all screwy with the rain water. So I take 70lbs off so that I’m using the weight I used that first week. Same thing. Screw it. It was tiring bringing all that equipment outside and now I was bringing back inside. I then was going to push the empty prowler back inside and that too wouldn’t budge until finally it did and a pebble skittered out of the way. So that was what it was. I was frustrated that something like that had stopped it and I didn’t think that it would be. But I was not bringing everything back outside again to then bring it back inside. I was worn. As punishment, I did push the empty prowler all the way back inside to warm up for what I was going to do next (I was getting cold). So I did something like I did last week with the treadmill alternated with the prowler. Prowler is much easier. Not sure what I did with counting this time but I was even slower so the treadmill time was about 5 seconds longer. This was good. The forward pushing seems tougher on the treadmill compared to backwards. Took my time putting stuff away. I had no plans on driving just yet. Did empty reverse hyper for 50 reps again and then 25 5 count holds of 90/90 diaphragm breathing before doing some hangs and then stretched. This felt good to do. It was a good day. Just hope I can recover Sunday so I can face the work week Monday.

January 2, 2020 – Week 5, Day 2

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Hatfield Squats to box (18”)

60x10

150x8

240x5

290x3

330x3

380x2

420x1

470x4

Romanian Deadlifts (top start)

45x10

95x5

135x5

185x5

225x5

275x3

Added Straps

315x21 PR+40lbs

Pulldown Abs (pulldown station)

50x25

80x20

110x15

Stretching

Comments: I slept most of new year’s day so I got barely anything I needed to get done that I put off. I feel like I may be on the upswing with the back issues. It is difficult to manage time for recovery based stuff and still have time for everything else. Knees have been achy and stiff since last week’s leg pressing. Pecs are tight from the workout on Tuesday. Warming up felt ok. I was surprised by how many people were there today but I guess it is the new year so this is going to happen. Lower back didn’t feel as stiff as it has the previous week’s warm-ups. First exercise was hatfield squats. Exact same as last time but just doing a set of four with 470lbs instead of a triple. Looking ahead, it appears next time around it is to be for a set of five. Slow progress is fine. This is fine for now. Unlike last week. I didn’t feel like I was touching the box with one glute higher than the other. These seem to be quite good, even with my ache knees because of how far back I can sit. I’m getting used to the weight on the unrack better. Only taking two sessions so not bad. On my last working single up to the top set, someone walked into my peripheral view on the left side to put back a barbell and I really couldn’t tell how close he was. Like that couldn’t wait? There wasn’t anywhere else it could go? So a bit of a static hold there until he left and then an easy single. I think on the top set, I had more trouble just finding some way comfortable to hold the rack than the squats themselves. Once I got that figured out, it was easy reps. All of these reps were controlled and easy. I’m curious if weight or reps on this will get bumped up to +600lbs or double digit reps in the future. Deadlift is what needs to be built back up. Speaking of deadlift, next was Romanian deadlifts. These are going up at a decent clip as far as weight. Much like my farmer’s walk and yoke, weight is expected to come back in bigger jumps at this time. This week, the weight for the top set was 315lbs. These cooked my hamstrings last time and I expected more of the same. No straps warming up and then straps for the top set. I didn’t think that I’d be close to the reps I did last time. Guess I didn’t figure that I’d adapt to these like I did when I was doing max rep box squats a few months ago but I did. I was aiming for 15 reps which if going off a max rep calculator, would be a little over the projected max from my previous set. I did not expect to get the same reps as last time with 40lbs more. I stopped because my grip gave out on that last rep and it was just hanging by the finger tips and straps. So much time under tension for the back and hamstrings. More so the back since that never stops while the hamstrings get a break at the top when I take a breath. Very pleased with this. Last item for the day was pulldown abs. Same weights as last time but much higher reps on the two lighter sets. These felt good and were needed. I could just feel the discs in my upper back decompress from having the weight pulling me up as I did these. I took a bit longer rest as I put stuff away and to let my hands recover to hold on to the rope in between sets. Hopefully I don’t feel any issues the following days or later after this one. I feel like I’m not going to be stupid this time after training haha. Home for stretching, recovery work and eating.

December 31, 2019 – Week 5, Day 1

5 Minutes Precor AMT

Mobility Prep

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses

PVC

22x10+5

Thick Bar

42x3+2

62x3+2

Axle

82x3+2

102x3+2

122x3+2

142x3+2

162x3+2

182x3+2

Axle Push Presses

182x20 PR+20lbs

Pulldowns

80x10

110x10

140x8

170x5

200x5

230x25 PR+10lbs

Precor Pec Flyes

135x10

165x8

195x5

225x28

Cybex Eagle NX Rows

160x10

190x8

220x5

250x28 PR+20lbs

Stretching

Comments: Another midweek holiday so with it being New Years, got out at noon from work. I didn’t get the best sleep but with the holiday,  I had to train today or things would really get out of whack. Gym closed on New Year’s Day and then just get everything off kilter. Lots of bad drivers out, even at noon. Right pec still stiff and tight from last week. Didn’t feel like I needed to do foam rolling today so maybe progress? Warming up felt pretty good. There were a lot of people so cramped quarters again but able get the things I needed to do with little wait time. As appears to be the theme for now, doing the strict and push press clusters. Same as last time, just working up to 20lbs more for the top sets. So it would appear that 20lbs increase between the times I use axle which is like 10lbs increase each week for implements. I had a better way for the draped chains around the PVC pipe for that first set. Perhaps a little too tight on the lock as I couldn’t get it undone afterwards. Oops. Then I swapped in the hollow thick bar and then finally on to the real axle. Things were feeling pretty smooth. Trying to do a set, add weight and then do the next set. I think the setup I had in the rack was better than going off the loading bars. But I need to be careful reracking the weights. Push press continues to feel better and easier. Bar path seems good. Strict pressing is starting to feel heavier but video says I’m still going smooth. Trying my best to keep these upright and bracing. No slop. Put on the copper soft belt for the weight I did as my top set last time and then the rehband belt for the top set. Get used to breathing with the compression. Again, 5 minutes rest and then the set of max push presses. Felt a lot like last time. Like on rep where I had my timing off and with was more a strictish press due to messing up the leg drive. I felt after last week with log, that I should be able to get 20 reps here as I’m getting used to it. Maybe I’ve done log so much that balance doesn’t seem to be an issue for me like it does with axle perhaps? Next up was the reps on reps part of the workout. Same workout as last time, but 10lbs added to the top sets, with weight jumps moved accordingly. Pulldowns, I was trying to move fast here so the working up weights, I pretty much just did the reps and then adjusted the weight and right on to the next set. Took a longer rest then for the top set. Chalking up here. I know as I do these, that I start out fine but get overzealous and it goes into a full body row. My thoughts are that I try to keep things strict as I can and then go with the sway and row style after I’ve fatigued that method. Keep the set going and keep that work through cheating method. Felt like this was better set compared to last time. Next was flyes. I was cautious with these with my chest being tight on the right side. I was distracted from some older guy noticing my sasquatch shirt so this ended up taking a bit to actually get on the machine. I feel like things will be a bit rough with resolutioners these next two months. No issues really with the chest. No pain, just stiff and tight so I proceeded. I was feeling pretty good on that top set. Little cramp after getting 25 reps but I didn’t feel like I was done but I was cautious because it takes a bit of tension on that first rep. Not an elegant way to finish up the set but managed to tie my PR on this weight for reps. I’m excited for heavier stuff as I figured out a way to add weight to these machine stacks in the future. Ended up having to take a break waiting for the row machine to be open as well. Not as long as the pec flyes. These continue to feel better on my lower back and hip. First set just feels rough to start. Maybe because it is the heaviest thing I start off on. Really found a groove on these today. Chalked up the hands for that last set. I was thinking that this would be tough after the sandbag rows on Sunday and just a day rest. Nope. These felt great. Almost at 30 reps on this weight. Good workout. Of course, I accidentally dropped the wooden platform I used to propping up my camera right on my left foot so that was sore. Home to stretch and recover. Endurance is about where it was prior to the break. Strength will come. I’m practically limping into the new year but I got time. I got a month before I need to decide on if I should do USS Nats in 2020 or not.