April 29, 2020 – Week 2, Day 2

Well, found out today that the contest I was prepping for was essentially cancelled. The other option was to do all the events in 10 minute time frame solo and that to me sounds like I might as well do it at home. No sense driving hours to do that. So a bit of a loss on next thing. I pretty much have to wait until the other shoe drops as far as what is getting moved or cancelled tomorrow to figure out how long it will be before I get to compete. I’ll have to reconfigure training. Luckily, this is early no announcement was going to change tomorrow’s training anyway really.

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Keg Tosses

(over 15’7” target)

29x1

(over 10’7” target)

54x1

(over 15’7”/10’7” target)

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

Axle Cleans

100x1

140x1

170x1

215x3

215x3

215x3

Zercher Squats

45x10

135x5

185x3

225x2

275x1

325x3

325x3

325x3

325x3

325x3

Paused Axle Romanian Deadlifts w/ straps

130x3

220x3

310x3

405x6

405x6

405x6

Crunches/Lying Leg Raises/Plank

bwx30/30/60 seconds

Side Planks

bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I tried to get things setup as much as possible so that I had very little down time between exercises. This one took a little bit of setup last time. I couldn’t afford that today as evening showers were expected. Luckily I got everything done before that happened but got to be on the move when storm is in the forecast. Same warm-ups as last time since that felt good. Keg toss to start things off. Same as last time. Only did the two warm-ups as pending storm and I didn’t feel like the extra did much for me last time. My body was either going to move or it wasn’t. Didn’t really take the time to see what my form was until I was done. The arc is too long for the lighter keg if I was aiming to clear the bar as it stands now for the very top but it is easily clearing the contest weight which is good and what needs to happen. There were moments where I actually got airborne. So some good, some bad. I did wear the arm sleeve again today. Better safe than sorry. I get really paranoid about it. Did my seven doubles with no problems, other than the heavier keg getting deeper into my backyard and getting chunks of earth added to the weight haha. So next thing was the axle cleans. Just adding 5lbs to it from last time. Don’t want to get greedy and keep these explosive and fast. As I mentioned the day before, I was thinking about using smaller diameter plates so that lower and closer to what regular bar height would be as if with bumper plates. So used 35lbs plates. Better but still a bit high. Again, anxious with the biceps on the right arm. Like last time, first rep the more deliberate one and then the other two reps were nothing. It didn’t look like rain was coming soon so I took my time putting stuff away as active rest for the next exercise. Really not caring for the zercher squats. Feel awkward and heavy. Not sure why they are. I did raise up the pick-up height but that didn’t really make things that much better or any safer. The one crash pad has had a bit more of its will to live knocked out of it so it depresses more than the other with weights. The bar was sliding and it was sitting low on my forearms so I will have bruises. I’m going to need to find an alternative. I can grunt things out but this is like the one thing I don’t like about my training I’ve setup right now. Paused axle rdls for the last of the weights. I was kind of subconscious about my right arm as I wasn’t sure if it was the sleeve that was moving or if muscle fibers were off. Head stuff. Anyways, these again. Plan had been just adding 10lbs like the zerchers with how they felt last time. But the weight seemed to be feeling not so soul crushing at 310lbs so added another 5lbs to get 405lbs on the bar. I definitely didn’t over exaggerate the eccentric and I feel that I had good control. My lower back at the base of the sacrum had been feeling tight and stiff until I started using the hard belt and was bracing like crazy against it. Unlike last week, I never felt like I was going to lose the bracing. I did space out rests a bit more. Not because I wanted to, but I was trying to make a four serving of ramen to go with the four servings of chicken parm I had planned for dinner. Abdominal stuff to finish out the day. Looking forward to a day off haha.

April 28, 2020 – Week 2, Day 1

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Axle Clean and Push Presses (one clean)

30x10

70x5

120x3

160x1

180x1

200x1

220x1

240x3

240x3

240x3

Seated Yoke Overhead Lockouts

180x1

230x1

270x1

310x2

310x2

310x7

Weighted Push Ups w/ (2) Mini Bands

bwx3

bw+45x3

bw+45x3

bw+45x19

Band Pull A-parts

MMBx12

MMBx12

MMBx12

MMBx12

Paused Floor Rolling Dumbbell Extensions

40’sx14

40’sx15 (miscounted)

40’sx14

Stretching

Comments: Surprisingly felt rested considering the week of hard training. Granted, got some stiff joints and muscle aches but didn’t feel worn out. And that is despite getting to sleep later than I should.  Walking outside felt nice. Kept warm-ups on inside for the mobility and stuff to keep warm. Conditioning is a bit down as I did no walking the week before and I noticed this while walking on Sunday and Monday. Only takes a week off to feel the difference in how the steady state stuff feels. Trend of knees feeling mostly ok continues. They seem to be tracking better with my old shoes.  Warm-ups good too. So first thing for the session was axle. Clean and push press as will be the case until I get confirmation of show status. If cancelled, then have to rethink plans perhaps. Rather than have to move stuff through the house to the porch, I figured I’d just do the axle in the street. One because it would be easier and I could just keep the garage open. Two this will be closer to contest conditions as it will be in a parking lot for a car dealership. Three I wanted to make sure I wasn’t pressing lopsided because of the terrain. Empty axle to start and then taking a big jump after that and then around the usual 20lbs jumps. I was very leery of my right biceps as it has been feeling tight. It’s my overhand grip for a reason as it’s the biceps I’ve pulled more than once. I wore an arm sleeve to keep things warm. Using the regular sized plates as I noticed when doing axle rdls with them that they sat more snug so less movement and worry about jerky motions. It does set things up a little higher so might not be the best depending on how high the plates are. It might be best to keep smaller and larger plates in the mix to not get too used to one setup. Higher for press days, lower for clean days. Cleans are feeling better as far as getting under the weight. Catching a bit low and becoming like a belt clean. That is legal for this upcoming show so not worried about that. Pressing is moving up pretty easy. I was tempted to go heavier but this is taking a bit out of me with another day of cleans tomorrow and that I got to do it again in a week with more weight. So arm intact so pleased to be ok and moving on to the rest of the workout. The seated yoke press lockouts. I had a better idea of what to expect and I figured that this would be a night and day difference here. Singles to warm-up this time and then the plan was to do 5lbs more than my best triple last week and do two doubles and then a max rep set. I felt emboldened and went for 10lbs more. First set was a little shaky and I was worried maybe I spoke too soon. But I got the rust off and felt good about the next set. That was even easier. Got good and ready for that last set. Not sure how I managed to get anything over 5 reps with how hard reps 6 and 7 were haha. But pleased that this is coming back to me quick. Hopes to be repping 300lbs for real overhead work may happen this year still. From there, moved on to weighted push-ups. Again. With my one monster mini breaking and my other dangerously frayed, I figured that the best option here was just adding another mini band. So next week will be three mini bands. Still awkward to setup but it feels good as far as chest, shoulders and triceps. Lost four reps from last week with the added band tension. Not bad, usually more of a drop off just because of how awkward the bands feel when more tension is added. Dismount still ungraceful but the falling on my side like a tortoise or elephant seems to be the best and safest way out of it haha. Moved on to band pull a-parts. Managed to get these on film this time. I’m not sure what happened last week when I tried to get this videoed as I’ve never really done that for the super light band stuff. Shoulders and back look strong and huge haha. Last thing was some triceps work. Same as last week as next jump in weight is 70lbs and not dealing with the hassle of getting sets of dumbbells. Plan was 3x14 but I miscounted on the one set and did an extra. Next week was going to be 3x15 but I may do 3x16 since this was easier than 3x12. Good thing with the home training is that I can start working on dinner in the middle of lifting. Not the eating but the prep if needed. Still ended up being a later dinner. Stretching and recovery work.

April 25, 2020 – Week 1, Day 4

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Wide Grip Deadlifts w/ Monster Mini Bands (straps)

No Bands

45x10

135x5

Add Band (+50lbs)

135x1

Add Band (+100lbs)

135x1

185x1

225x1

275x1

315x1

365x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

Car Deadlift Hold Simulation (straps, 24” pick)

130 for 5 seconds

180 for 5 seconds

220 for 5 seconds

270 for 5 seconds

310 for 5 seconds

360 for 5 seconds

400 for 37.13 seconds

310 for 56.43 seconds

Medley (Keg Carry/Husafell Carry/Mouser Block/Chain-Sled Drag) (carries driveway)

215x35’/239x35’/222x35’/610x30’ in 59.27 seconds

215x35’/239x35’/222x35’/610x30’ in 56.05 seconds

215x35’/239x35’/222x35’/610x30’ in 54.33 seconds

Uphill Car Pushes

Car+1 person x70’ in 17.78 seconds

Car+1 person +180 in trunkx70’ in 20.16 seconds

Car+1 person +360 in trunkx70’ in 21.21 seconds

Stretching

Comments: This was perhaps the day I most worried about. Mostly because the last time I did my own training plan, I ended up overdoing it on stuff and ended up being in pain and having to take off more weeks of training to recover. With how the State plans to open up in phases, gyms and such in the last phase so very real possibility that the garage gym life will be until June or later. I slept in and I really didn’t get ready to train until a bit after 3:00PM. I wasn’t expecting the training to take all day but it kind of did. Went for a short walk and wore a mask just to keep from people thinking I want to chat. Warming up felt good too. So to start things off, doing deadlifts. What I was initially thinking was short rests like the z presses but that didn’t seem to be in the cards. I wanted to do the wide grip deadlifts against bands. Work the hamstrings and hips as well as getting that start and having to pull fast through. Not using the usual band setup but standing on the bands. That is when I added bands. I used some wood slats and the crash pads so that I could do a set of 10 with the barbell since it has been since probably October I’ve done this style of deadlift. Not a lot of volume and trying to prime for the heavy stuff. The deadlift event for this show is quite odd. Kind of two of them that will rely on strong upper back support strength and leg/hip lockout strength. I’ll be honest and say that 405lbs of bar weight didn’t feel as easy as I wanted it to. Deadlift has been down as of late. For the feel, maybe 365lbs was the way to go. It was feeling more like a grind/strain doing these but video says otherwise, more of a slowing at spots in the lift with the switch from the hamstrings and back to the hips. I had meant for 6 singles done EMOM but two things. I set the timer wrong I guess and the other was the one set of bands snapped on the fifth pull so no more pulls like that today, especially not within EMOM rest haha. So not too pleased with that. Ordering would be earliest of 5/3/20 for a new pair and that was not “guaranteed”. Going to need to either mix and match my bands to get an equivalent or do something else. So next thing was car deadlift holds. Different setup as the cinder blocks all broke last time. Using my mouser block to stand on and my saw horses at their lowest setting. Makes it 1” lower for the pick up on these. Since I didn’t do any farmer’s stuff to warm-up, I felt it made more sense to do more work up sets with 5 seconds holds. It was feeling heavy. I figured this would be the case from doing the upper back stuff but that is to get them used to it. Really, it was to be just 10lbs more per hand but I went 15lbs to get an even 400lbs for the top set. I noticed as I was doing these that the farmer’s were warping the saw horses. As long as the don’t collapse, I guess I’m good. I’m actually surprised that I was able to hold on to these longer than 385lbs last time. I thought I fell short of that. It still seems to be the case that when my grip goes, these go. Not sure if I can or want to mess with that. Might require some finger tip training holds? In the chance that the event is lighter than expected, I decided last minute to do another set with 90lbs removed per handle. I figured that even after that top set, this would be light enough for me to get close to a minute. I was expecting over a minute considering my USS record with this weight is close. I guess that is good that this is also building my grip up too. I feel like I could walk with 400lbs farmer’s handles assuming a higher than normal pick. I feel the grip is there. But damn were the saw horses warped. They will need some reinforcing. Thankfully this is the heaviest exercise I’m putting them through. So next was the medley for the show. I figured that I needed to keep working on my foot speed with the implements. Other than messing up the grip on the block, my speed with the keg has been about same regardless of the weight for this short of a distance. The sled is the factor of slowing things down besides the heavy block. Not doing yoke and farmer’s walk will give me more time to work on this and let my knees get some rest. I had the devilish idea of making it harder while keeping the carry lighter. I remembered that I did carries up and down my driveway and that was torture. So why not do that with the medley. Obviously keep the sled in the street as that steep of an uphill would change the mechanics too much. My drive way is about 5’ longer than the contest course. I figured that I’d have to move fast but it would also make it tough to do that. Zerchers and deadlift stuff should work the heavy part of the medleys with the picks for not and bring the heavy version back in the second half of this 9 weeks. Because it was my driveway and garage, I needed to be gentle with the drops on the pads. I made the sled drag the heaviest so far at 610lbs as that needs to be pushed. I didn’t feel too bad after the carries the first time but my lord I was not expecting the drag to be that rough. I was breathing hard at the end and I had two more runs. Not sure why but this got easier as I did it. My times got better and the drag felt better. Almost 5 seconds improvement over the day. Last thing was pushing. I was up in the air if I should do prowler or push my car. Not the usual conditioning. For the contest, the press event has a twist where you have to push a truck. Two clean and presses with an axle, push a truck 40’, clean and press another heavier axle. So need to work that into the mix now. Not just because it will fatigue the legs but also the shoulders and upper back from the supporting. It was already like an hour later than I had planned on it being and resetting a sled for multiple runs (downhill is too easy) wasn’t going to work so I did the car. Shorter rest than the other stuff because it required very little setup. Plan was 3x70’ with the same weight. But the empty car was too light so I added weights for the second set. Better but still kind of light. Last set I think I got just about right though maybe a little heavier. I at least know I need to have at least +400lbs in my car for next time in the trunk. Got dinner ready and stretched and made sure to get in soft tissue work. So one week down. Hopefully I didn’t overdo it again. And also the contest still happens. Be better to know sooner rather than later if it is happening or not.

April 24, 2020 – Week 1, Day 3

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Barbell Z Presses

45x10

95x5

135x3

165x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

185x1

Close Grip Barbell Floor Presses

45x10

95x5

135x3

185x2

225x1

275x3

275x3

275x13 PR+1 rep

Super Set: Trap 3 Raises/ Partial Rear Delt Dumbbell Swings

10’sx12—70’sx15

10’sx12—70’sx15

10’sx12—70’sx15

10’sx12—70’sx15

Rack Chins (straps)

bwx12

bwx12

bwx12

Stretching

Comments: Allergies and stress. Got me questioning if I’m sick or not. Stupid pollen. Been sleeping hard when I do sleep. Since changing workout schedule to 4 days, been finding I don’t have a lot of time or energy left to worry haha. Only thing would be if the contest is cancelled that it would be super annoying but a lot of shows have been moved to later so assuming I find out in the next week or two, not a terrible thing and I can readjust. My “the beast bottle” finally gave out on me. Much like it’s namesake, can’t handle the heat very well haha. So now just using a regular bottle. Previously 14gs BCCA per workout but now 21gs. Definitely been slacking on the soft tissue work with the car buffer and I do plan to do some of that. Eventually. Been working on getting the knees to not be painful so icing 20 minutes 1-3 times a day. In my exhaustion, forgot to mention that tearing down the zercher squat setup last workout resulted in the barbell with all the weights falling on my concrete garage floor. Just a divot but still not what I wanted to deal with haha. Anyways, on to training. Made the mistake of going for a brief walk without my mask on. Apparently this was an invitation for someone to drive up to me and have a chat about the big tree the neighbors on the block just got cut down. Sigh. We’re all going to die. Even with training an extra day, this was going to be a shorter workout. More of an upper body accessory day. Day 1 event specific overhead stuff with accessories, Day 3 more strict press and accessories. Warm ups felt pretty good. I think the key is wearing my work shoes for happy good times with the knees. The first thing to start was z presses. I’d much rather be doing standing press or a normal seated press but don’t really got good options for that right now. Already did a lot of cleaning of weights and trying to cut that down on the other days, considering I also got to train tomorrow. Saw horse only go so high. I did sit on my one crash pad for comfort and to raise me up a bit. Couldn’t get the bar right at my clavicles but that is ok as this still is tough and works the shoulders. This was a bit different from what I’ve been doing for the cluster reps. This time, doing it with 30 seconds rest. Set time for 35 second intervals. The music was a bit loud as I initially couldn't hear or feel the timer going off so I had to move it to my shirt so I'd hear it. A little hit or miss on reps. Some were tough and others just flew up. I held the last one at lockout a little bit as I wanted to make up for one rep with a soft lockout. Next up being floor press. Not really ideal or safe to do real bench pressing so this is fine. Using the crash pads, again. Very versatile. Saw horses I had to lower to the lowest setting for these. As I got up in weight, I put weight on the middle to keep it from tipping. Plan here was 275lbs for three sets. Two triples and then rep out on the last set. I was feeling a little silly and was dancing and singing to my music some sets. I was not optimistic of the rep set as 275lbs was feeling darn heavy and my right shoulder was feeling a little achy. I guess I just needed to treat it seriously as I repped it a lot. I was expected 12 at the most and got an extra. I looked back through my training and this appears to be a 1 rep PR. The next thing was to just scorch the upper back and rear delts. I’ve done these exercises before but never as a super set. I always liked how the raises made my shoulders feel despite all the pressing and the swings just are exhausting and hit those muscles so hard. I forgot how many reps I was to do for the raises that first set and went to check and come back to get the last two reps. Just exhausted and feeling so much lactic acid after each time. Midway through I was wanting to be done with it but I had two more darn sets to go. My hope is that this will let me hit those hard for reps and for the little muscles that need to support the heavy holds and lifts for this show. Also not stress the biceps and hopefully help get my shoulders to feel not like achy crap. Last thing being rack chins. Wanting to hit some back as a unit and deload the spine a little. With how exhausting the superset was, I was thinking I’d be doing 3x6 instead of the planned 3x12. But it seemed to be okay. I was keeping an eye on my right biceps and shoulder. Been very lax in soft tissue work and I need to be careful to not overdo it. I tend to do that. Like all the time. Ate food for like an hour and stretched before getting to be late. Plan is to sleep in and then lift late afternoon tomorrow.

April 22, 2020 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Keg Tosses

(over 15’7” target)

29x1

29x1

29x1

(over 10’7” target)

54x1

(over 15’7”/10’7” target)

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

29x1/54x1

Axle Cleans

120x3

170x3

210x3

210x3

210x3

Zercher Squats

45x10

135x5

185x3

235x3

275x1

315x3

315x3

315x3

315x3

315x3

Paused Axle Romanian Deadlifts w/ straps

120x3

210x3

300x3

390x6

390x6

390x7 (miscounted)

Crunches/Lying Leg Raises/Plank

bwx30/30/60 seconds

Side Planks

bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Unlike yesterday, this was pretty much a day of figuring out of training. I just knew that I wanted to work axle cleans and some lower body focus. Going back and forth between having it be event specific. Same warm-ups as last time since that felt good. Keg toss to start things off. Yep, doing these in the middle of the week. Enough light outside and I figure it was better to keep the explosive lifts close. I didn’t feel like I had the usual oomph on these. I said that last time but I think this was more just doing it at the end of the day and also from training the day before. I think that because the top cross bar fell (and I really don’t need it for now) that my trajectory on the lighter keg is off. It gets the height but the arc is longer than the heavier keg. So just a few warm-ups. I figured that I needed to practice for multiple kegs. Doing reps on reps with the keg didn’t seem to be the best way to go and doing singles is fine until another is thrown in the mix as the power the one saps is not really something you can gauge with you tossing these suckers. I also just have two kegs to use and I’d rather not get the sandbags involved with this yet. Anyways, so plan was to do EMOM doubles. I didn’t want to be fumbling and stumbling like I was the first time I tried it. I think these went pretty well. I had forgotten if I had landed on 6 or 7 sets but I guess 7 it is. So next thing was the axle cleans. Already had this setup on the patio. I’ve been feeling that I’m not getting this work in. Just about every time I’ve trained axle it has been one clean since coming back from injury and anytime I’ve attempted to reclean I’ve failed. With the competition coming up involving multiple clean and presses with an axle, I needed to get myself comfortable with multiple cleans. I figured that I’d already be warmed and ready for moving fast after the tosses so I wouldn’t need a lot of warm-up here. I was leery about doing reps. Just feeling like it is a lot of strain on the biceps. I need to get over that fear. I’ve never had an injury from axle. Cleans felt better than the day before. Granted 20lbs less on the top sets but still. I noticed that my first rep was my slowest of each set and the other reps moved quicker. Trying to move without hesitation on those. The second set I was pulling higher than I was expecting on the 2^nd and 3^rd rep and it caught me off guard. I was very happy with how these went, despite my right forearm/brachialis being sore. So inside for the rest of this. Ideally, I would have a power rack and be able to do the hatfield squats without worry of dropping stuff or having to start from the bottom. Especially after the all the axle stuff. So best thing I can really do for the legs for squatting is zercher squats. I’ve been doing higher reps and they seem to have been okay and felt good. 275lbs had felt light last time. Yeah, this time stuff wasn’t feeling light. I felt slow and stuff felt heavy. I had been thinking that 315lbs was going to be too easy a weight (wanted to break in doing a lot of sets of low reps). I was kind of tempted to do 325lbs depending on how 275lbs felt. It didn’t feel that great so just doing 315lbs. I took a bit shorter rests for these and got a up a good sweat going. The knee wraps on the arm are the bee’s knees (actually not sure if that is singular bee or like all bees and also not sure if I need an etymologist or an entomologist to figure that out). No pain in the arms. These looked much quicker on camera versus how they felt. I’m not sure how that works out. I was trying to figure out why these felt so much easier two weeks ago. Second to last set I felt I got a little too much of the bar to the right side. Last set actually felt like my best one. Last thing with weights was something I just kind of pieced together at the last minute. It combined a few things. Paused axle rdls. I like the eccentric work on my deadlifting and helping with my control and bracing. I don’t like pauses on the way up. I’m not trying to slow the concentric portion down. I think that as I get tired or the weight gets heavy, I change how low I go. I realized that I got those drop pads that are 6” high so I can use them as a depth gauge and if I fail, I don’t end up going too far beyond a comfortable range. I also went with the axle so that it is in front of me a bit at all times, has no real flex and I get used to moving a heavy axle compared to what I’ll be putting overhead. These were tough. I took big jumps and I had the thought that maybe I do just 300lbs for these. But I said no, go for the four plates on these. Darn brutal. I lost my tightness on the very last rep of the last set and that was a mistake as I had already done the planned six reps there. My hamstrings and midsection and back were on fire. I struggled to do the abdominal work to finish out the day. Ate the Mississippi roast I had cooking and stretched. Got a day of rest and then two more days to train this week.

April 21, 2020 – Week 1, Day 1

I had to make some changes. Last week was not a great week for lifting. Other stuff was great or fantastic really. But lifting no and when lifting is not great, I don’t feel great. The confidence I have just seems to evaporate and things I didn’t worry about, worry me. Shoulders and knees hurt. A lot. I didn’t think it was the street angle, or that I was lifting at home alone or that I started doing support exercises. I was frustrated and with more than one thing not being good, the frustration was too much. I was freaking out as I figured that I really couldn’t take any more weeks off or weeks light (other than planned) to be contest ready in nine weeks. I needed a change. I began icing my knees 2-3 times a day and stopped wearing the new shoes. Also decided to not be doing the treadmill as a warm-up. And try my own programming. My knees were throbbing as I lay in bed the day before. I had switched to sleeping diagonally so that my feet didn’t hang off. I felt like it was a pain but one where it was like it was ebbing away. That the healing was beginning. Or so I hoped.

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Axle Clean and Push Presses (one clean)

30x10

100x5

130x3

150x2

170x2

190x2

210x2

230x3

230x3

230x3

Seated Yoke Overhead Lockouts

90x3

140x3

190x3

230x3

270x3

300x3

320x0

Weighted Push Ups w/ Mini Band

bwx3

bw+45x3

bw+45x3

bw+45x23

Band Pull A-parts

MMBx12

MMBx12

MMBx12

MMBx12

Paused Floor Rolling Dumbbell Extensions

40’sx12

40’sx12

40’sx12

Stretching

Comments: This was really crunch time. It was storming during the early part of the day and if I couldn’t do what I wanted outside, then this would be a bust at the start. Thankfully, the sky cleared up but it was still windy. Walking was just around the block to warm-up. Kept warm-ups on inside for the mobility and stuff to keep warm since not as intense as treadmill. Knees felt better and so did my feet in my old shoes. I dropped some things that were redundant from the warm-up. So first thing for the session was axle. Clean and push press. Push press doesn’t seem to be irritate the shoulder as much. I can still strict press but I’d rather save that for other exercises and treat this as skill training. Are borrowing a bit of this from a training cycle I did in 2016 that had me prep for a contest with keg tossing and max axle. I know a bit more with tossing so I’ve modified that as it wasn’t the best and it was a bit much but the axle part was really good. Not using the same weights as then as I’m not in that kind of shape for a max axle and I probably only need to be good for low 300lbs as a max but the conditioning for more reps is needed. Empty axle to start and then taking a big jump after that and then around the usual 20lbs jumps. Still used to doing multiple reps at each weight. As I get more used to things, I can drop some reps perhaps to save for the top sets. Plan here was 230lbs for three triples with about 2 minutes rest. Multiple cleans at this weight is good. Last time this was starting at 245lbs which lead to a 320lbs PR in comp with a close miss at 340lbs so this should be ok. This is definitely a cheaply built axle but it will do. Not the best reps but considering I was nervous that I’d injury myself I’ll take it. Set weights and sets seem to be good for me when there is a plan of approach. Inside for the rest of it. The second part was rack seated lockouts with the axle. Well, no power rack yet but I got a yoke. Really wobbly and can’t quite get it where it should be for really heavy weights but it’s close enough. Plan was a top triple to base the next two weeks training off of. I did a bit more lighter weight sets as this thing is wobbly and I need to be tight for the press here. 300lbs was a struggle to get. I think I went for 320lbs because I had not yet put on my hard belt or wrist wraps and thought I had a shot at it with those. Nope. Not the end of the world. I got 300lbs as my number and go from there. I had a small scrape on my hand from last week that opened up and was welling blood from the pressure I’ve had on it from my wrist wraps. From there, moved on to weighted push-ups. I don’t have a lot of options for pressing. I broke all those cinder blocks so regular bench or incline isn’t great or the safest right now. Can’t do slingshot dips either. So got push-ups. Can only stack 45lbs on my back safely. And I can do close to 30 reps. So plan here was to add a band. This was easier than (the weight, not getting this on my back) expected. Did 2 sets to kind of acclimate and then did a max rep set. I think knowing I’ve already done the weight helps when going for max reps. Dismount was tricky haha. The plan for the next two weeks is to keep weight the same but go up in band tension. Moved on to band pull a-parts. I’ve liked these for the shoulder health feeling. These felt great after the other stuff. Last thing was some triceps work. Figured that until I got a better handle on the JM presses (may need to do them on the floor) and let my shoulders get a rest from the standing tate presses that rolling style with a pause will work. Dumbbells and higher reps. Felt good. Short rests here. Plan is to just increase the reps the next two weeks. Stretching and then eating a lot of food. This seems to have been a success. Hopefully this venture into my own won’t end like last time with the pain relapse. I think I got things figured out a little better this time though.

April 15, 2020 – Week 5, Day 1

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

12” Log Cleans + Strict Presses + Push Presses

Kettlebells

15’sx1+10+5

Dumbbells

40’sx1+5+3

Log

115x1+2+1

135x1+2+1

155x1+2+1

175x1+2+1

195x1+2+1

12” Log Clean & Strict Presses (1 clean)

215x8

12” Log Clean & Push Presses (1 clean)

215x1

235x0

Yoke Overhead Supports

95x3 seconds

145x3 seconds

185x3 seconds

235x3 seconds

275x3 seconds

325x3 seconds

375x17.97 seconds

Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows

40’sx10

70’sx33

Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses

15’sx10

40’sx10

70’sx32

Safety Squat Bar JM Presses

65x10

95x10

125x10

Band Triceps Pushdowns

LBx50

Comments: I don’t really want to do this write-up for this day. Took me a bit longer to sit down to do that. Mostly because I’m not happy with how the training went and I tend to get down on myself when I feel I do poorly and I kept seem to find a way to frame a positive that is satisfactory. “At least I didn’t die” isn’t a good enough one. I’m currently teleworking now so that is some stress gone but new stress added. Treadmill warm-up. I may need to do something different going forward. Had to wear my copper knee sleeves at the start. I had actually delayed this workout a day as I my shoulders were really achy. Warm-ups didn’t feel great. Walking down the drive way in my lifters I felt like my right foot had a piece of scotch tape or a thin band aid on it. Not painful but not feeling you really want. Kind of foreboding like what if the “tape” rips? I think I hit myself in the head on the one rep with the kettlebells too. Log work after that. The plan as written was to do same as last time but 5lbs more. I was actually expecting this to go up 10lbs but the plan seems to be changed. My lower back just felt pumped up. I had tried on a different shirt with some decal on it but it doesn’t seem to matter with this log as it is still slick. My shoulders were aching. I was hoping that they would get warm as I went and wouldn’t ach so much. Knees were just feeling terrible on the lap to clean and then the press. I almost wanted to one motion or viper press the log as that meant less time with it on my chest and my shoulders aching. This was not building confidence. I knew it was going to be a struggle to get through this. I got more reps than I was expecting with the strict press. Not more than if I was feeling good. I was thinking 5 was my limit with how terrible it felt. Shoulders were just so achy and I don’t know why. Push press was worse. Felt like I was going to pass out on the single lift and then doing 20lbs more I only cleaned it as the knee pain was too much and just didn’t feel worth it to try and actually do a set. I wanted to stop here but I didn’t want to just quit another workout like I did last month. I can’t keep stopping when I have a bad workout. I got lazy and had disdain as I didn’t want to get stuff from the garage that were big plates if I didn’t have to. So next was overhead supports. I figured that I can stand still ok and the knee bend is just once to stand up. Advised here to do sets of three count up to 5lbs more than the weight I did for the hold last time. This was also a struggle. Felt tougher to lockout my arms compared to like almost 80lbs more last time. I did manage to hold it for some time but I knew it was less than 20 seconds. The rest was just rep work so I could do that. Bench supported rows with the dumbbells. I could feel this wasn’t going to be great too. My shoulders even ached on these. More so the right side. I got set and went. I hit about the same reps I did alst time before I had to take a breather. But unlike last time, I only managed an additional 3 reps. So nine reps less than last time. Just gets better. The next exercise was incline dumbbell. I was already figuring that this wasn’t going to be great but these at least seem to hit my chest more than shoulders. I thought my PR was 37 reps so I fell short of that but was closer than I thought I was as it was 34 reps from last time. But I had to reclean the dumbbells again and that is telling. Maybe if I knew I only had three more reps to go to beat my PR I would’ve but I was already a defeated man well before this point. Since I busted all my cinderblocks doing the high pick farmer’s holds with straps, my saw horses were much lower for SSB JM presses. Way too low as it was like a dead press to get it started. I quit after three sets as it was too much stress on my right shoulder to unrack the weights. I did a high rep set of band triceps and that didn’t seem to bother my shoulders. I was just plain tired and disgusted with training. I pretty much just shoved everything into my garage and closed the door, rather than put stuff away. Didn’t bother stretching and had a pot roast for dinner that didn’t come out well. Despite not wanting to take another week off, I guess I’m going to. If not to get my body right but my head right.

April 12, 2020 – Week 4, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Keg Tosses
(over 15’7” target)
29x1
29x1
29x1
29x1
(over 10’7” target)
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
54x1
29x1/54x1

NY Barbell Yoke
200x100’ in 11.41 seconds
300x100’ in 12.10 seconds
400x50’ in 7.61 seconds
500x50’ in 10.05 seconds
570x50’ in 10.89 seconds
570x50’ in 10.87 seconds
570x50’ in 9.73 seconds

Sandbag Rows
110x12
210x40

Medley (Keg Carry/Husafell Carry/Mouser Block/Chain-Sled Drag)
215x30’/239x30’/222x30’/380x30’ in 44.70 seconds
296x30’/239x30’/304x30’/570x30’ in 51.34 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Things got a bit compressed time wise. Found out early afternoon Saturday that I’d need to be 2.5hrs early for work Monday. So that meant going to bed early Saturday so I could wake up early Sunday to get training done and get to bed super early. Definitely let recovery stuff like soft tissue work go by the wayside. Warm-ups felt good. Knees ached so I knew I was going to need to wear the copper knee sleeves. The one is so worn and blown out that I ended up using the forearm one on my one leg to keep from having stuff slide. I did wait until I was ready to lift to do this. Keg toss to start things off. I didn’t feel like I had the usual oomph on these. My third toss I got good height but the arc was too tight and it came back down on the cross bar and popped the top half of the setup off. Just tossed again and then reset the setup for the heavy keg. I had thought maybe that this would be better considering how I was getting some good height with the 50lbs sandbag. Nope, about the same. Consistent. I guess the extra 4lbs is noticeable. My left hand when gripping stuff at the start ached. Still feeling the bad hold on the block two weeks ago. I decided that for the last of the EMOM sets, I was going to do the light and heavy keg. Get an idea of moving between kegs and what kind of power is left. I had meant to clear the top rung with the light keg by my trajectory was long. That’s fine as it easily cleared 12’. I actually got launched forward a bit and kind of staggered going for the heavy keg. I got settled and did. I feel like that will be something I’ll need to work on if things are a go for this show (I hope they are). Next up was yoke. Using the janky yoke again. Yoke hasn’t been fun for me. Just feels heavy and slow after 300lbs or so. Tried to do all the runs uphill to get consistency and timing. The longer runs, I was definitely getting above the PVC pipe marker. I will say that my lower back didn’t feel like it was cramping up like last time I did yoke. Felt relatively healthy. My legs, hips and glutes weren’t feeling DOMS either. Yoke took a long time with resetting stuff. First two runs 100’ and 50’ for the rest of it. 50lbs more than last time for the top sets. Wore my mask just to be on the safe side out in the stress because people tend to get close and there were a lot of people out for Easter. I knew I was slow when I went for 500lbs. My right knee cracked a bit and I was just feeling crushed. Like, this felt 300lbs heavier. Over 10 seconds woof. No pain or aches with the first two top sets but again, over 10 seconds. Not sure what I did to get things to feel better for the last set but that was sub 10 seconds. Still felt like garbage and slow. I got to build up a bit of tension and kept short breathes or hold to keep this yoke steady. Maybe it’s just in my head as fairly close to my farmer’s walk times. Inside my garage for sandbag work. Sandbag rows again. I was advised to try and get it more compact as it was becoming a fingertip row with the sand escaping. Managed to do that with some effort. I figured it was a good idea to wear my mask here too. Because of the sand and dust from this thing. As I thought would happen, I got better at these. I was kind of hoping that I would just stop and my arms and upper back would get too tired to do the motion. It was more staying bent over for so long and my legs and lower back. And my breathing haha. I just stopped at 40 reps after getting a couple second winds. I really hope I can use my heavier bag next time. This was a lot of reps haha. Last thing for the session for today was medley work. This took a bit of setup but not nearly as long as last time as I knew what to do and expect. The carrying parts were going to remain the same from last time for both sets but I’d be trying to increase the drag weights to get them up to par with contest weight. I figured that I’d also be faster this time around after some familiarity with them again. No gloves this time as I felt they hampered me. I did put the soft knee braces on my arms to protect them from getting contact bruises. I had a large one on my left arm that has finally faded now. I was worried they’d get in the way. Thankfully they did not. They worked great. Also realized that I had misloaded the drag by 10lbs lighter than what I thought it was last time. So added 40lbs to the drag. Managed to just get under .10 of a second on that set. The heavy set, I definitely improved on the keg as I was able to pick it up higher and hold off my legs. Block I messed up again and went for the top grips instead of the bottom grips. I need to get confident in picking this up and getting that grip so I can move faster as I’m just under the time limit as it stands. Drag went well, felt like the same weight as last time despite adding 70lbs. Definitely doing +600lbs next time. Hopefully I can recover and deal with the crazy schedule that is coming up.

April 10, 2020 – Week 4, Day 2

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Deadlifts

45x10

135x5

185x3

225x2

275x2

315x2

365x2

Added Straps

405x10

Yoke Hand and Thigh Lifts (straps, 27” bar height)

270x1

360x1

450x1

540x1

630x1

720x1

810x1

900x1

950x1 PR+50lbs

1000x1 PR+100lbs

1040x1 PR+140lbs

Zercher Squats

45x10

95x5

135x5

185x3

225x3

275x15

Overhead Walking Lunges

bw+45x12/12 PR+2/2 reps

Crunches/Lying Leg Raises/Plank

Bwx30/30/60 seconds

Side Planks

bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: A bit stressed. No clue what my work schedule is going to be like next week so I had to try and make sure I got stuff done. I slept in later than planned but that was more I think from staying up later than I wanted to. Felt like I had a cold or something after last training session. I really hoped it was just allergies and stress so that I could just rest and work through it. Ended up taking Dayquil and Nasonex so that I could get symptoms to calm down and I could get to work. Felt a little slow on the warm-ups and stuff. Really windy so I did everything inside. Deadlifts. Was not looking forward to this. Trying to not have my hips down so much this time. Felt a little alien to me. Only working up to 405lbs for the top set as I screwed up so much last time with 525lbs feeling like a max single. Perhaps I lifted too soon after eating. I waited as long I felt I could to get stuff done at a reasonable hour. I felt like I was going to puke getting into position for that first rep with 405lbs. I’m not sure what I was expecting but it was certainly more than 10 reps. I just couldn’t do any more with good form. Maybe my breathing wasn’t the best with the congestion and stuff. But I felt so weak and disappointed in myself with the deadlifts. Like I should be doing 50lbs more for this minimum at my current state. This almost made me stop the workout with how pissed off deadlifting made me. Hell, I did more reps on RDLs last week after heavy squats. The hate is becoming mutual with deadlifts at this point. I definitely felt like if I underperformed on anything else today, I was going to stop the workout and become depressed. So next was the hand and thigh lift again. Using the setup from last time. I enjoyed it a good bit and with my new axle, I don’t feel comfortable with loading that sucker up with much weight despite them saying it can handle 400kgs/881lbs. I’m skeptical with how it handled about a fourth of that. Didn’t bother doing the empty yoke or with just 90lbs added since I knew this would get heavy. I had misread what I was to do last time in that I was to do 50lbs jumps. This was also to be the same but after seeing how heavy I was getting, I was told 90lbs jumps were ok and I could take smaller as I got closer to a top weight. I had my form figured out this time so no real messing around and weight was going up good. I wanted to get something over 900lbs. Honestly, 900lbs didn’t go up so good this time. I had to try it twice to get it started as my positioning was off and I wasn’t committed. So I added 50lbs figuring that would be my max for the day. Nope, that went up pretty good and just raised up a finger signaling to myself that I was doing 1000lbs today. Weight loaded and got set. Bit tougher to get started but still good. Didn’t feel like my arms were going to tear from their sockets. So initially I was just going to go up 30lbs more. Then I thought I’d do 35lbs so that I was using all my plates with the hand grips. I then added another 5lbs as this would signify something. It would be the most weight I’ve ever lifted in any capacity. Granted this was already the most I’ve lifted in my hands by a good margin (855lbs I think was the best before I started all this hand and thigh stuff haha). The previous best was from when I was in college and I did squat lockouts. I had actually maxed out the bar and had to wear a back pack to add more weight. That was 1035lbs. Got set and it went up much the same as 1000lbs. I didn’t hold it for long as this was good strain on the body. I think I’ve got 500kgs/1102lbs next time. I won’t know if the contest is happening or not until the end of April so I’ll be doing another round of this before than so I’d like to give it a go even if the show is cancelled (promoter already said it wouldn’t be reschedule or postponed). Mr. Westerling was responding to my texts during the workout and told me that we’d worry about deadlift as more a bodybuilding exercise for right now and let the hand and thigh lift be the CNS stimulus. Zercher squats next. I was feeling pretty good after the heavy hand and thigh lift pulls. Since last time I did these, I broke all my cinderblocks so that would make the pickup from the saw horses a lot lower. So I tried out something else using the tables, crash pads and wood boards. Worked out well. Still using the knee braces on the arms for comfort. I stuck to wearing my chucks for these instead of my walking around shoes. No ankle/calf pain this time. Goal was same reps for top set as last time but more weight. Recommendation was to do it like quarter-plate-quarter progression if I could manage it. The reps are going to decrease the next few times so it should ok. Idea being to keep reps in the tank. I did do just threes after doing 135lbs. These felt good. Got a little tried on the last five or so reps. Definitely could do another five here. Outside for a set of walking lunges. Switched out my shoes. Plan here was a set of 24 reps total. Really windy outside. Put on warm-ups to keep my legs warm. Wore my mask from work just in case someone was walking while I was training and got too close. I bumped the weight up to 45lbs because. These felt great. Technically a PR as the most I’ve done the brief time I’ve done these previously was 10 steps a side. After that was abdominal stuff. I sweat a good bit and I feel like my abs are going to cramp from doing the triset of crunches, lying leg raises and a minute plank haha. But I don’t. The side plank is a bit easier. I can use my other arm to continuously wipe the sweat from brow with a hand towel. Lots of stretching.

April 8, 2020 – Week 4, Day 1

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Axle Cleans + Strict Presses + Push Presses

30x1+10+5

70x1+2+1

90x1+2+1

110x1+2+1

130x1+2+1

150x1+2+1

170x1+2+1

190x1+2+1

Axle Clean & Strict Presses (1 clean)

210x10

Axle Clean & Push Presses (1 clean)

210x1

230x13

Rack Chins (yoke, straps)

bwx18

bwx15

bwx14

High Incline Dumbbell Presses

15’sx10

40’sx10

70’sx29 PR+2 reps

Weighted Push-ups

bwx10

bw+25x8

bw+45x29 PR+1 rep

Standing Tate Presses

15’sx20

40’sx33 PR+1 rep

Stretching

Comments: I had hoped this would go quicker since I had a general idea of how to set things up and do them from last time. Nope. This was also the first workout where I was training directly after work. I’ve been fortunate to get to tinker around with things on days I’m scheduled off to get the kinks out of the process. Much longer to setup for event training compared to the usual stuff. This still took a bit of time. Normal warm-ups to get ready. Felt ok. Some usual aches. I’d prefer another day of rest but I got to get things back on track as I have no idea what the next week or so brings. At this point, it seems like the hold outs on the equipment I’ve ordered are just avoiding me. So first thing was pressing as is usually the case on this day. Axle this time. Replacing the barbell. Not going out in the street since I have a light axle to use. Also got crash pads now. So some issues with the axle as it usually the case when you get stuff off brand. It’s hollow and thin so there is a bit of gap with plates on it. More so the issue is having some way to secure them. I’d rather not use the cheap collars that came with it but they appear to be the only ones that fit other than using my heavy duty ones with a wrench. Don’t feel that is necessary with the weights I’m using right now. So idea here was to do the same thing I did with log last week. Complexes up to a top weight for strict press and then 20lbs more for a top set of push presses. I was cautious with the clean as my biceps were feeling the stone of steel stuff. Always do. My crash pads are already uneven from the abuse I’ve put on them so far. A bit of that tendonitis again. I was surprised I got stopped at ten on the strict presses considering how I did on log last week. I kind of had a brain fart and forgot that I was to do the same weight for a single on the push press before going up in weight so I got a little extra rest. Push pressing felt better. I felt really wobbly in my core. Rack chins were next. Feeling a bit more confident in these compared to last time. Goal was 1-2 reps more per set. Might have done a few extra. I was trying to space the sets out to get the lactic acid out of my biceps as that seems to be an issue with me and fatigue on these. So next was more shoulder and chest work and that meant the high incline dumbbell presses again. Do sets of ten with my lighter stuff and then a max rep set with the 70’s. I was worried I had it set too high compared to last time. With the dumbbells, pretty much just aiming for more reps with the weights I got. I felt good after a few reps with the 70’s but it got tough and I just lost it going for a 27^th rep which would’ve tied last time. Ugh, not going to stop there. Took a breather and then popped them back up to the shoulders and got three more reps. So right into weighted push-ups after that. Like last time, my triceps were just done. I took a bit of a break after the work up sets to rest. Then I did the longer rest pause style of set to get the reps in. I think I got 20 or so before I resorted to this. Missed going for number 30 here. Last thing was standing tate presses. I did that first set with the kettlebells again. I think just how the weight is distributed really just smokes the shoulders. I was not as strong as last time. Maybe all the other reps got to me but I could feel my power fading really quick into the max rep set. I was feeling like 20 reps was going to be my limit. I ended up dropping the dumbbells for a breather and then recleaned them and got another 1 rep over last time. That was an effort on just about everything. With the schedule as it stands, I know I got Friday to sleep in but I’ll have to train (Day 2) so that I can do my third day on Sunday. Eating and then stretching to end out the evening.

April 6, 2020 – Week 3, Day 3

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Sandbag Tosses

(over 15’7” target)

30x1

30x1

30x1

30x1

(over 10’7” target)

50x1

50x1

50x1

50x1

50x1

50x1

50x1

50x0,1

50x1

50x1

50x1

Rogue Farmer’s Walk (16” pick)

115x50’ in 5.94 seconds

165x50’ in 7.12 seconds

205x50’ in 7.78 seconds

255x150’ in 24.85 seconds

255x150’ in 24.96 seconds

Car Deadlift Hold Simulation (straps, 25” pick)

255x1

295x1

345x1

385 for  35.50 seconds

Stone of Steel Loads (54”)

138x5

182x3

225.5x1

270.5x10

Prowler Pushes

280x100’

280x100’

280x100’

280x100’

280x100’

Stretching

Comments: So things a bit out of whack schedule and time wise. Even with some things already planned or setup, this workout took a lot of time. With some exercises outside in public (you’d think it was summer break already) I did wear a dorag on for a mask on stuff. So first thing was the warm-up. I seem to be able to get the blood flowing pretty good on the treadmill. Knees were achy as hell. First really exercise was tossing again. But not keg. Sandbag this time. I figured that it was a good change up. Same but different. I have no idea if the show will go on in June and I think this lets me work on my tosses in general. I think my lawn appreciates getting an extra week of rest from the havoc of the keg toss. I wasn’t sure if these would feel as good as the keg. They did. Probably a little better. I had one badish toss with the 30lbs sandbag to warm-up. Neighbors had the yard work going for hours and the leaf blower was so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. Then on to the anxiety inducing 50lbs bag. I made mistakes. One was that I accidentally set the timer for 11 rounds. Another was that I biffed the eighth one and had to redo it. Finally, I didn’t clear memory off my phone so I had to do that for the last few tosses. I felt good about these. All obviously clearing 10’7” and 12’. I feel like four of them maybe had a shot of clearing 15’ which was something I couldn’t accomplish in my USS Nats prep for 2019. Then it was time for farmer’s walk. Not as easy to get the times for these, especially with what was planned. With no real restrictions, I could go far here. So the top weight was to be for 150’. I can’t have a sound for the stop point like with yoke. Lower pick handles here so using all the tricks to get that weight to feel easier to pick up. I wasn’t sure how the left hand would be feeling at this point. Still catching some things weird. Unlike yoke, I wasn’t really concerned with the speed aspect being consistent with resetting the course each time. With the planned top sets being 150’, doing it uphill and then downhill was the easiest way to get things back to where I could load them into the garage. I’d say about a second slow on the short, light runs. I felt like I was moving slower on the first of the two heavy runs but it just may be the downhill feeling. It’s not a big slant but it is noticeable when you get up in weight haha. Things felt good here. So into the garage where I could remove the face covering. Man does that get warm. So the next thing was to work a timed hold for the car deadlift hold at the contest. Side handles and straps. So it is less grip and more total body.  My initial setup was perhaps too high as it was a 30” pick height. Doable but may be not something for a good carryover and might pull my arms and touch as weights go up. So I added 5” of wood slats to bump it up. I had hopes that the cinderblocks would last. They didn’t. I forgot how annoying straps are on short handles with the figure-8s. I’d rather use regular straps but these I know won’t break and I can have it not be a strap failure. Goal here was 325-350lbs per hand. I had to talk myself down from going for over 400lbs. I just remember how heavy this felt the last time I did it. It was like I couldn’t breathe and barely held over 20 seconds on it. I was going to do just 345lbs but it felt so light once I stood up with it that I wanted to go heavier. That almost didn’t happen as placing that weight down broke one of the cinderblocks. I luckily had a spare. The grip is still a part of this. That was what gave out on the heavy set. I had to set things down as since this was two independent objects in my hands, I couldn’t afford to lose control, especially having to land these back on the cinderblocks. There were no survivors of the cinder blocks. So I had to do a little bit of clean up afterwards. I did figure out another way to do this for next time. Stone of steel was next. I told myself it would go better this time. The crash pad was remade and I had ones on the sides too. I was initially going to just do plate jump singles but I felt like I needed to do a few more reps so I did 5/3/1 and go ready for the top set for ten. I needed a good song on. One that made me happy. So I picked the muppets. I also wanted to have something that I could finish lifting all the reps while it was playing. My choice of shorts was perhaps a little slick. Hamstrings, abdominals and lower back were smoked by these. No missed reps, despite going without any kind of sleeves on my shirt. This has been a challenging weight in the past to do without any kind of grip assistance and I was consistent in getting it. Last thing was prowler work. Street is a bit different from turf. Idea was to go fast and have a medium weight. I figured that even with more weight, I’d go faster than anything I could do on turf. I had thought it was 300lbs but it was only 280lbs. Still most I’ve done for this kind of workout at my house with my setup. I was little concerned that my right biceps looked more deformed at the top than usual. But there wasn’t any pain or any sensation that something had happened. Just more noticeable. I know they said they saw no tears on the MRI, but I think they were looking at the shoulder and tendons and not muscle. Whatever. So of course this was outside and people be lollygagging so dorag on the face again. It does not make conditioning work easier. Short rests here. I slowed down but it was never to the point of like staggering steps. It was a long day and I need to get things back on the normal days as I have no idea if I’ll have this kind of “freedom” next week.

April 4, 2020 – Week 3, Day 2

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

Hatfield Squats to box (18”, bottom start)
65x10+1
155x5+1
245x5+1
295x3+1
335x3+1
385x3+1
425x3+1
475x3+1
525x5+1

Romanian Deadlifts (top start)
45x10
135x5
225x3
315x3
Added Straps
405x15 PR+20lbs

Split Squats
bwx3/3
bw+15’sx10/10

Crunches/Lying Leg Raises/Plank
Bwx30/30/60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Even with the many days off mandated from work, I’m still feeling tired and stressed. I think a lot of it is just that there is a feeling of loss of control of aspects of my life. Something new each day, days not having a set structure and essentially relying on the competence of others to get through this. Not like the work stops on the days I’m required off either so it’s a lot of catch up that first day back and finding out with things are changing or continuing isn’t usually confirmed until the day before. Also dealing with issues trying to get gym equipment, specifically a power rack of some sorts. Been over 2 weeks of issues. Everything but two orders have arrived. Excuse being COVID-19 and I get that but it doesn’t explain the poor customer service. I’ll just have to continue with trying to keep a dialog and get time frames confirmed. I think a good bit of that was what was stressing me out after work Thursday and Friday. I was planning to train Friday but I wasn’t feeling great and trying to set things up after work was not going well and my body ached. Since I essentially had a 4 day weekend because of this situation, I was allowed to not train but it still irritated and pissed me off. Had to use the heating pad on my back and did foam rolling before I started training. Sleep cycle is off and I need to spend time reining it back in. Worked on a faster pace for the treadmill. Trying to get myself to do some work in the short time and get my body producing a sweat. Other stuff seemed to go well. So the plan was hatfield squats. Initially going to do them off the saw horses. No real way to set these up with the starting from the top with what I got. The saw horse option just wasn’t a viable one. I’d have to do these from an ATG bottom position and no way to be able to support myself up with the arms to assist in getting to the start position. So this lead to using coke crates, the round tables and crash pads. For a box, I used my mouser block, some wood I use for a frame converter and my one smaller crash pad that I had duct taped up after the years of abuse from being at the strongman gym. Knees were aching like crazy. Using the yoke as my “uprights” to stabilize and support. Damn that first rep was a rough one on every set. See the plan here was to work up to 520lbs but if this was too hard, just work up to a top set of five with this setup until I get a power rack. Things were goodish the first three sets. But after the last set I did, I saw that this wasn’t remotely safe with the tables balancing on the coke crates. So I reluctantly removed them, lowering the start position about 5” or so. This made the start even tougher. Thinking on it, I may be able to still use them next time. I was really not sure if I could do the top planned weight. Everything above 335lbs felt the same. Heavy as hell. Top set for the five was hard. I ended up adjusting my feet before going for the last two reps. I definitely had to take a breath or two at the top after that first rep to get things started. I was seeing little black spots on that last set. This was rough. I knew that I’d feel beat up after that and I had stuff still to do. Thank fully, it wasn’t going to be that tough compared to what I just did. Just glad that was done as it was a pain in the ass to setup, pain in the ass to do and a pain in the ass to teardown. Not sure if I it is wise to try to push the weight up or just go for more reps with this weight. So RDLs after that. Weight lowered after the bad deadlift session last week. Was supposed to be 445lbs I think. Need to relearn good form. Low reps and big jumps on these today. Using the saw horses so I little bit of a walk out needed. Grip was holding up ok on this bar. Left hand still feeling the strain from the block and carry medley. The first set with just the bar, I didn’t do my usual pause and breathe. I kind of forgot and just realized halfway so I just kept doing it. I brought that back for the rest of the sets. I’ve been tucking my chin as I felt it was helping my brace better. Been advised to not do that as this is not letting me get the back to be in line and I’m going more into a squat than I should on regular deadlifts. With how real deadlifts went last time and how my body was feeling, I was fully prepared to get like maybe eight reps. I was very surprised that these felt easy. I managed to get 15 before I felt I needed to stop. This did put a smile on my face after this was done. So heavy stuff done, on to the light stuff. Since not really able to do heavy legs like with leg press, unilateral stuff is being done. Light and low volume to get used to it. The walking lunges I feel had really helped me get my stride into another gear on the farmer’s walks in September 2018. Haven’t really done split squats. Knees were achy. Did a bodyweight set and then did a set with the sand filled kettlebells. Easy enough. Next jump would be 40lbs a side unfortunately. Not sure if the motion itself and more reps is the way to go. After that was abdominal stuff. This was exhausting again. Stuck with 30 reps again just because. I managed to get the three exercises all in a row. For the side planks, I didn’t take a rest between sides this time. I figure that since I’m not using weight, I don’t need that kind of rest. I also wanted to finish up so that I could talk with my special lady before she went into another day of work. Another month of this at least. But I won’t break.

April 1, 2020 – Week 3, Day 1

5 Minutes NordicTrack Treadmill

Mobility Prep

12” Log Cleans + Strict Presses + Push Presses

Kettlebells

15’sx1+10+5

Dumbbells

40’sx1+5+3

Log

110x1+2+1

130x1+2+1

150x1+2+1

170x1+2+1

190x1+2+1

12” Log Clean & Strict Presses (1 clean)

210x11

12” Log Clean & Push Presses (1 clean)

210x1

230x10

Yoke Overhead Supports

90x3 seconds

140x3 seconds

180x3 seconds

230x3 seconds

270x3 seconds

320x3 seconds

360x3 seconds

410x3 seconds

450x1 second

450x3.07 seconds

410x5.93 seconds

370x24.37 seconds

Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows

40’sx10

70’sx42

Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses

15’sx10

40’sx10

70’sx34

Safety Squat Bar JM Presses

65x10

90x10

120x10

150x10

165x23

Stretching

Comments: Well survived the first week of home training. Mostly I guess. Went to work Monday and just crashed Tuesday. I didn’t wake up until the afternoon and by then it was too late as the weather turned sour. Not terrible that I couldn’t go for a walk. I needed to. Got bruises from Sunday from the carry medley and my left hand and wrist is still aching. Also got bruises on the inside of both arms. I wasn’t sure if this was even going to be enough rest. Getting used to the treadmill warm-up. With moving stuff around in the garage, I had to adjust and reconsider how I was doing things for the warm-ups. So log for today’s session to start. Rather than worry with maneuvering the log into my house and then out of my house onto the patio, I’d just do this in the street with the crash pads. I wasn’ told to do a warm-up like I usually do with dumbbells but I figured it was a good idea. Did the kettlebells bottoms up style so that more wrist and stability work. This was to see if my shoulders were feeling good and my wrists were up to it. 40’s on the dumbbells felt good too. I didn’t feel like my shoulders or elbows were impending the movement like it kind of has felt the last two times I did log. Then it was log. The plan as written was to do 20lbs jumps up to 200lbs. The log was 108lbs empty so I added microweights to get it to 110lbs and just did 20lbs jumps up to 210lbs. My thoughts were that I just did 225lbs last week for both strict and push press so 10lbs more wouldn’t be a crazy thing right? This log feels solid but it is much slicker with the paint job. Not that the shirt I was wearing helped any. Hard to tell with the powder coating sometimes if it will be like glass or sharkskin. Good to know for next time. I knew this wasn’t going to be a problem with the planned weights today. Log complex like axle up until the 210lbs. This was a max rep set of strict presses. Felt a little rough at the start but then I got into a good pace and groove. Lost my balance I think on number 7 and recovered and went for 4 more. Last one definitely was a lucky break. So after that, I had a single for the push press and then add 20lbs more for a max push press set. I knew this would suffer a bit more compared to the barbell style. Lot more shoulders for log. I also felt vomitty bent over but I told myself I only had to pick it up once. Miscued the third rep but then got sort of back on track. I was cautious as I was feeling the tension in the right oblique like when it got all weird on me doing log press training for the Arnold. Kind of surprised I didn’t get number 11 after that. I wanted more reps obviously but not mad in that this is a new log for me (never used this brand before) and I haven’t really been doing log cleans for the pressing nor doing max strict pressing beforehand. Masking the strength with fatigue. Legs are there. Then something I was looking forward to doing, overhead supports. Due to the injury relapse, not been doing many partials or static holds. These seem to make the press do something haha. No power rack or way to put log or axle above my head safely but I got a really light yoke and some short circular tables. So in business. Idea here was to work up to a top weight for 20-30 seconds hold. I misremember what my times were on log overhead supports from last year were. Most weight I’ve had overhead I think is 470ish. So I severely overestimated my abilities here. Plan was 40-50lbs jumps, trying to do it with 450lbs. I worked up doing singles with 3 second hold to insure I had it. 450lbs for a longer hold wasn’t happening. I was successful standing up with the weight two out of three times. So I took 40lbs off to try again. A bit better but lost it forward just under 6 seconds. Relented another 40lbs and just kept at it until my arms finally set it down. I thought it was closer to 30 than it was to 20. But finally got the work in. Good to know the tables will hold up. After that, it was back work. Bench chest supported dumbbell rows. I had suggested that I could wear straps and combine my 40’s & 70’s together but workout called for just the 70’s so I did that. Grip got tired and so did I. Unlike with the sandbag rows, I was going to get at least 40 reps on these. Just kept going, rest pausing to get a few more reps here and there. Back and forearms were smoked from this. So next was more shoulder and chest work. Regular incline bench press with the dumbbells. Same as the high incline press in that I did sets of 10 with the lighter stuff and then maxed out with the 70lbs.  This was easier so I fully expected 30 reps here unless my shoulders were garbage. My right side was wonky and didn’t want to stay in line. When I get fatigued, the uncoordinated stuff comes out. I didn’t overdo it as I stopped when I hit the sticking point on the my attempt at a 35^th rep. Lots of reps. Last thing was ssb jm press. This a bit trickier than I would’ve liked. See, no power rack yet so I got saw horses. Problem is that it makes gripping the bar not ideal for these. Scraped my thumbs up a bit. I also learned that the camber and sleeves are slightly downward as the weights came off after few reps without collars on my first warm-up set. Not expecting that as I usually don’t put on collars at the gym until the top set. Good to know. Also it isn’t as balanced as a rack since I can usually leave 2 45’s on one side and no balance issues but take off 40lbs and you got a trebuchet. Anyways, I ended up matching my best. Probably could do another rep but having to be cautious with the rack and unrack, it wasn’t wise. Right side lagging here too. Finished putting stuff away and had a weight gain shake and bunch of ramen before stretching and clean up.