March 24, 2020 – Week 2, Day 1

Well, what a month this has been. I mean, damn. First week of training for the contest in June was going well. Then everything happened. Issues with work, everything being open. Just stuff changing literally every 6hrs. I tried to keep a sense of normalcy and tried to train in Lancaster after work but that was just too much. I think the thought that the contest would be possibly cancelled coupled with all the other stress wore on me and put me in funk for a day or two. The workout was terrible and I only finished up one portion of the workout and went home. In my rush to leave, I may have left my camera there. Shortly after that, all gyms were closed so it was just homegym stuff. I had to take a step back and reignite that spark. So new plan and most of my tax return going to gym equipment. Don’t want to have my pants down like this again. I was able to get a good bit of my equipment to train on. Plan is to return it once this chaos is over but I fear it will be months rather than just weeks. Well now caught up, on to training.

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Barbell Power Cleans + Strict Presses + Push Presses

45x1+10+5

65x1+3+2

85x1+3+2

105x1+3+2

125x1+3+2

145x1+3+2

165x1+3+2

185x1+3+2

205x1+3+2

Barbell Power Cleans + Strict Presses

225x1+8

Barbell Power Cleans + Push Presses

225x1+14

Rack Chins (straps)

bwx15

bwx13

bwx11

High Incline Dumbbell Presses

15’sx10

40’sx10

70’sx27

Weighted Push-ups

bwx10

bw+25x8

bw+45x28

Standing Tate Presses

15’sx20

40’sx32

Stretching

Comments: So first training in the garage. Body stiff and achy. I didn’t really do much other than the aborted workout and finally got myself to go for a walk Saturday and Sunday. For warm-ups, had to improvise a little. I needed to do some foam rolling to get ready. Oof. Didn’t want to be doing the usual sled drag around the block so used the treadmill that I’ve been storing in one of my guestrooms. I will say a nice thing about training like this is I can play my music. Used stuff around my house to do the rest of the mobility stuff warm-ups. So first thing was pressing. The ceiling is way too low for me to press stuff standing and I’d rather not be in the street. So that was happening on my patio. Barbell stuff. No power rack setup yet so had to clean the weight. Not very good at this and it was set to limit things by having it be power clean to the shoulders. My best ever on this is 275lbs but I don’t do this. I knew this was going to be tricky. I didn’t have anything to soften the drops so I had to control this weight back down. So as has been the case, combo of strict press and push presses. Started off good. Ran into some trouble with plates though. I apparently got like 900lbs of 45’s that don’t fit on the barbell I got. Luckily I got 4 pairs of 45’s that do fit and some other plates so all good. Once I got to that point, I was adding support gear. My right knee was just killing me at the start. I ended up putting on my compression socks and my calf warmer around my knee to help. My knee felt better as I went. I had a goal of my top set being 225lbs. It just seemed right. The limiting factor was going to be the power clean. For the top set, it was going to be two sets. First set max strict press reps and second set mas push press reps. With how difficult that first rep of strict press was, I’m surprised I got more than three. Not sure where that came from. Power clean was a bit tougher for the second set, even though I took a good bit of rest. Triceps just couldn’t lockout a 15^th rep. Shoulders were pumped and sore. Right shoulder feeling a bit like when my biceps tendonitis was acting up during Arnold prep. Going to have to watch that. I think the hard catch at the top for the power clean as well as the pulling might have something to do with it. The rest of the workout took place in my garage. Next exercise was one I did when I was first coming back to training from injury. Rack chins. However, I don’t have a rack and my closest setup is a yoke and due to the thicker crossbar, I was advised to use straps. I probably would’ve used straps anyways with how my biceps and forearms were feeling from the controlled negatives on the power cleans. Advised not to go all out but leave like two in the tank each set. Even when things are back to normal, these might be a good one for me to do in place of pulldowns for a change up and to work things a bit differently. One is moving the weight and this is moving the body. I’m sure I’ll get better at these. So next was more shoulder and chest work. At this moment, I’m limited on dumbbells. I have two sets of dumbbells, 40’s and 70’s. I do have a pair of 15’s but they are plastic kettlebells. They are a bit different feel but whatever. So this was high incline dumbbell presses. Do sets of ten with my lighter stuff and then a max rep set with the 70’s. My shoulders and triceps were feeling crispy and like I said, the right shoulder was feeling sore and tight. It was a little difficult to get the 70lbs up to the shoulders and set but once I did, I went to work. I figured I’d get above 20 reps considering how my reps I’ve done with lighter dumbbells on standing tate presses. But my shoulders were feeling beat and tired. Still got over 20 and aimed for 30 but just fell short. Now usually, there is a rest before doing another pressing exercise with back work. But not today. So right into weighted push-ups. My triceps were just done. Thankfully, this didn’t irritate the biceps tendon after all the reps beforehand. As I have been doing with the weighted dips, I really rest paused these. Keep the set going. I was telling myself that I couldn’t do less than 25 reps here. I did try for 30 but got stopped on number 29. Last thing was standing tate presses. I did the first set seated as I didn’t want to go outside again. The kettlebells just about cooked my shoulders. I’m not sure why but I think how the weight sits was why but I felt so much lactic acid in my delts I couldn’t really hold my arms up. Lots of reps, jokingly considering I might have Rhabdomyolysis. While resting, I released that the ceiling in the garage was slightly higher where the pulldown stairs to the attic are so I shifted under there to do the set with the 40’s. Everything was sore but I got over 30 reps here. Exhausting but done. Had Mississippi roast before stretching out watching “Tiger King” on Netflix. As long as I can keep from breaking, I can make this work.