May 28, 2020 – Week 2, Day 2

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Goblet Squats to Box (15”)

bwx25

kettlebell

15x20

dumbbell

40x10

40x10

40x10

16” Rack Pulls

45x15

135x5

225x3

315x3

365x3

405x3

Added Straps

455x3

495x3

545x3

585x3 PR+2 reps

Ab Roller

bwx15

Side Plank Raises

bwx10/10

Stretching

Comments: I’ve had very little in the way of symptoms since I woke up Tuesday. It has felt more like a muscle soreness then pain or the numbness down the leg. Always worried that I’m going to push things too hard as I’ve seen the backslide. Trying to keep the spark for as many days as I can. There were plans for today but life happens so plans change. Went for a brief walk and my shin splints were acting up a little. Put on the compression socks as I was going to be doing some deadlifting stuff. Not sure if that is of itself that reason I seem to feel some shin splints when I walk with these on. I could use better walking shoes but these are the ones that feel the best on my knees when I squat besides the converse with heavy box squats. I had also thought that it might be a day where I kept the garage closed but the dreary weather became surface of the sun hot by the afternoon. My upper back was tight and sore from those holds on the rows. First exercise was squatting to a box. This is light stuff and is planned to be that for the next two weeks after this. As I previously mentioned, I got the weeks mixed up so I did the front squats last week. This time it was goblet squats to box. A bit more foolproof of an exercise. Only using half the weight as the front squats so a bit easier to recover from. Higher rep sets to start obviously a bit of sweat building mess. Took shortish rests for the three work sets. I was feeling good with how these went. So next was the rack pulls. The tried and true 16” pulls. I do have the squat rack but not setting it up yet. So the method of the madness for today was using the saw horses at the lowest setting and then standing on my Mouser Block. Came to exactly that height. So plan here being to warm-up and then do triples up to a good, heavy triple. But not a max triple. Moderate triple. But also one I’d feel safe doing. Hard to figure with that as these could be not safe. I’ve been lifting about 30lbs more than planned on the overhead stuff and I did 50lbs more than expected with the RDLS last week. Idea being 495lbs if things felt safe and good. I had to take a layer of shorts off. I knew that this was going to be an interesting pulling session as I was very sweaty, the bar as deep knurling, and I can’t really roll the bar into the best spot with the wood on the saw horses. My legs were slick like rubbed down with baby oil. Constantly wiping off sweat with a towel. I was feeling good besides sweating. I knew my grip wouldn’t be up to par with the sweating and chalk was pointless. Worked up to 4 plates before got the straps out. I felt at that weight with the straps on, I could hit like 20 reps. I did a rough estimate that would put me at about 675lbs for a single and I felt that was the weight I’d need for possibly going for 6 plates for my triple of the day. First rep getting into the position (bar not really able to roll) was the tricky part but the rest of it went well. I was not holding these at lockout for long, I was trying to pull these fast, get the lift and regroup. Fine line of pushing enough or too much. I was feeling good and stuff seemed to be firing right. Technically a PR with 585lbs. Felt good. Mr. Westerling thinks I could’ve done the weight for 10 reps. I’m not sure, I think 6 might have been my limit here with how it was feeling. Anyways, that was the end of the heavy stuff. The bulk of this workout was the high rep, low weight squats and the heavy pulls from the rack. The rest of it was abdominal work. Makeshift ab roller using the barbell and 45lbs plates. I was told to do a moderate rep set of these and leave plenty in the tank. This was a little tricky to figure out as the first few reps were tough and I was thinking I end it way sooner. Like in single digits. But I got a bit more comfortable with the motion and stopped at 15 reps. I’ve had some success and not success with this exercise in the past. Usually done for lower reps and more sets. Sometimes these can be something I strain but I made it an effort to not do that. The next exercise for the core was plank related. Like an easier version of the ab roller but for the obliques. Essentially to raises in the side plank position. I’m not 100% certain I did these right. I’ve never done them before. My side with the injuries was having a tougher time doing them. Not pain, just stuff felt stiff. That other side was way easier so I was a little thrown off by that. This was a nice session. Ate pot roast before stretching and recovery work.

May 26, 2020 – Week 2, Day 1

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Lock Big 3

10’sx10/5’sx10/5’sx10

12” Log Cleans & Push Presses (1 clean)

Kettlebells

15’sx10

Dumbbells

40’sx2

Log

110x2

130x2

150x2

170x2

190x2

210x2

230x2

250x2

270x2

290x2 (missed 2^nd and recleaned)

Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (2 second Holds)

No Holds

Kettlebells

15’sx10

Dumbbells

40’sx10

Added Holds

70’sx16

Close Grip Barbell Floor Presses

45x10

95x5

135x5

185x3

225x3

275x3

295x10

Trap 3 Raises

10’sx10

10’sx26

Safety Squat Bar JM Floor Presses

65x10

95x10

125x10

155x30

Stretching

Comments: I was not as rested as I would’ve liked coming into this workout. Despite the hard work, back wasn’t feeling so bad. Actually feeling better in that the symptoms are less and centralizing. Knees a bit achy. Right biceps was still bothering me but not as concerned about it tearing for the moment. Really hot and muggy outside. My house was struggling to stay cool. Warm-ups were ok. I had done some foam rolling earlier in the day. First thing was shoulder drills. Better this time. I knew what to expect. Able to use the 10’s for the first exercise. I was told to stay lighter with the other two for now. Felt some cramping in the right triceps but no issues using the 5lbs weights. May try more weight. I feel like stuff I don’t do improves pretty quick. So log work this week. Plan the same as axle, 20lbs doubles for the jumps. Warmed up with the kettlebells and dumbbells. Right knee a little achy. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. My right biceps was bugging me, my right knee was achy and it was so darn hot and muggy. Not ideal for log clean and press. Had to adjust how I clean as this log is very slick. Slickest I’ve ever used. Now it’s mine. I felt crap on these. Back was tight (but not like sore and pumped like last time). Still had the taste of defeat in my mouth from last time I did log. I just kept on going. I was fully expecting to be stopped at 250lbs with how these felt. The second rep on these just seemed to be good for some reason. Chalked up and got some more reps and weight. If I had gone by how they looked on video or how I felt, I’m sure I would’ve stopped a lot earlier. I think just how that second rep at 270lbs felt was enough to goad me into trying 290lbs. Anything over 230lbs was a PR on the log. At some point, a caterpillar had fallen from the tree above me into the log. I didn’t feel like getting it out as odds are I would’ve squished the poor bugger. Just eating and looking for shade. Can you blame it? I’m not. Hot, sweaty mess. Chalk becoming like papier-mâché. Constantly wiping off sweat with a towel in my garage before each set. I forgot how much I sweat when it gets above 70. Not looking forward to no A/C for the next few months. I honestly have no idea how I got 290lbs for a single, let alone a double today. Missed the second rep which had been the easier reps and I was like damn. Not sure why I thought I had to try again but I did. Would’ve looked real stupid to miss it now. Lockout was a struggle but got it. Ugh, done with that. I didn’t think I’d be in 300lbs range already after how long it has been with doing lighter weights. Next up was back work. Dumbbell rows on the bench while supported. This time a little different. More warm-up sets and then adding holds at contraction for 2 seconds. I knew this was going to be tough. I had gone and changed my shirt at this point. Trying to do them to warm-up fast but I think knowing I was going to have to pause them on the heavy set may be why I did them with some control on the second warm-up set. No biceps pain on these. Just lots of rows. I didn’t bother to keep count as I was trying to focus on the holds. I was feeling fatigue before I even got to ten reps. Ended up with 16 after video review. About a third of what I could do normal style. This might make more sense with getting things better for holding stuff and cleaning stuff. So next was close grip floor presses. I had done these for two weeks so the plan was to do 5lbs more than what I did the last time and go for a top set of max reps. Warm-ups feeling pretty good. Things feeling heavy and pressure on two plates and up. Wanted to try and do all the sets besides the top set without wrist wraps so that they feel like a boost on that top set. I think that having sleeves would probably have made this easier. I’ve been thinking about elbow and knee sleeves more and more but I don’t think I’m at the point of buying any yet. I need to be strong but also able to move how I want. 295lbs was feeling heavy but just because it was didn’t mean I wasn’t going to do reps with it. I probably should’ve bailed on that tenth rep but I was too committed by that point to bring it back down so I ended up air humping it into submission. Not a good way to end the set but still got in good work before that. So another carry over from my own thing was the trap 3 raises. Same as the band pull-aparts. I like how they make my shoulders feel. These are a bit harder though. Plan here being a set of 10 and then a max rep set. Compared to the band pull-aparts, a set of ten with the bands is a lot easier. Feeling quite a burn doing these. A few shy of 30 reps. Last item of the session was ssb jms. Didn’t have the squat rack setup yet (it has arrived) so the alternative was to do floor press version. I’ve done them before with chains. Plan being 2-3 sets of 10 up to a max rep set. Plan being to do a weight I could do 15-20 reps at least. I figured 30lbs jumps from empty bar would be just right. Last time I did these, my shoulder on the right side was bothering me. No such issue this time. I knew I was doing a lot of reps haha. The top set I had a song with counting in it and almost got off track as soon as I started. 30 reps here. I’m in a good spot I think. Hot, sweaty and hungry for food and more. Hopefully I’m not pushing things too much too early. Stretched and recovery stuff.

May 23, 2020 – Week 1, Day 3

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

NY Barbell Yoke

300x50’ in 6.53 seconds

350x50’ in 6.20 seconds

400x50’ in 6.69 seconds

450x50’ in 6.84 seconds

500x50’ in 7.34 seconds

550x50’ in 8.05 seconds

600x50’ in 8.05 seconds

Sandbag Rows

110x5

210x5

Sandbag Loads (62”)

210x5

Sandbag Bearhug Carries

210x200’ in 37.42 seconds

Prowler Drags

325x100’ in 35.18 seconds

415x100’ in 39.59 seconds

505x100’ in 49.13 seconds

Stretching

Comments: Wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing when I woke up. Weather had that there was to be thunder storm in the afternoon. It was either train today and risk getting stuck in a thunder storm or take the day and train when there was no risk. Well seeing as how I really don’t want to mess with my schedule to make sure I can do the things I want to do, I went with do the training today. Not really getting any pain with the back but pressure is causing issues of tightness and numbness in the leg. I ended up doing about 10-20 minutes of foam rolling before I got ready to go and train. Usual warm-up stuff today. It was muggy. I was already working up a sweat before even getting to the lifting stuff. So today to start things off was yoke. Using the janky yoke again. As I’ve mentioned, it hasn’t been a fun one for me as of late. So I wasn’t expecting much. It does seem that not having your knees hurt helps a good deal as this felt fine. My right biceps was tight and crampy doing these from pulling in the uprights. I didn’t bother with resetting things as I was to keep working up in weight, doing 50’ run and resetting was going to take way too long. Didn’t seem to matter too much as far as times. My dad bought me discs to use rather than my PVC pipes for marking the start and end. Plan was to work up to a good set of 50’. Whatever felt safe but no more than 600lbs. My nephew was visiting and he commented I looked like I had gotten out of shower with how sweaty I was. He’s into superheroes (well I guess Star Wars now and maybe moving to Godzilla) so I’ve done some videos for at home stuff dressed as Batman so I put on my Batman mask for the last run so I’d have a video to send him later. I did not expect to match my time going uphill with 50lbs more from the last set. Yoke felt good but that was a good and smart place to stop for the day. My times were much better speed wise. Closer to what I’d do with a sturdy yoke on turf. The next part of the workout was sandbags. Plan being warm-up with rows, do some loads and then a carry. I don’t have a lot of sandbag options at home right now so I had to ask what I should use as my “medium bag” at this time. I was very leery about my right biceps. I could feel it pulling when I grabbed the light sandbag for rows and I had to put it down and regrip it. Been away from it for a bit and the next set felt heavy. It is one of those exercises that drops off fast if I don’t do it. But it comes back fast. Feeling the biceps like that isn’t a confidence builder. For the loads, I just used the yoke I had setup. The sandbag was light enough that going for 62” wasn’t a struggle. Only was to do 5 reps of this today. More to make sure my body was ok in the back to handle it. This is not an ideal bag for loads as it leaks. This was easy but I took my time as I could feel my biceps getting pulled on the right side at points. I was worried that each time I went to lift it might be the last time for a while. It’s the same biceps thing from years ago that I pulled in training. Just seems to be always present despite lifting heavier and heavier things. It is annoying. Not sure if this is something where I’ll just not be thinking about it or if eventually the muscle tears. Maybe it’s in my head? Anyways, the next thing was bear hug carry. Same sandbag and carry it for 200’. I figured a straight shot rather than deal with turns right now. I wasn’t thinking it was going to be as easy as it ended up being. I didn’t really go that fast but I still got the time off of it. Probably had another 100’ or more in me no problem. This thankfully didn’t bother my right biceps any. Last time was dragging. My options had been drag a car for 60 seconds or do three sets of sled drag. There isn’t consistency with the vehicle drags and I figured that trying to do a set course and finish it under a time limit was probably better for me as I tend to move slow in the backwards drag. Plan was medium weight. I don’t really push this one that much as usually it is for conditioning and part of medley work. I figured I’d do my top set as the most weight I’ve tried with my setup as I’ve done 500lbs for more distance before. Only issue I had was that the ropes dug into my hands and the manhole cover at the end I kept getting stuck on. It wasn’t that bad with the first two runs but the last run it stopped me and I had to restart to finish. My knees were sore from that last set. I’m hoping that I didn’t get too much son with my tank top and being inside for months haha. A bit of stretching before having to clean up and spend time with family.

May 21, 2020 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Dumbbell Front Squats to Box (15”)

bwx25

kettlebells

15’sx20

dumbbells

40’sx10

40’sx10

40’sx10

Axle Romanian Deadlifts w/ straps

30x15

120x5

210x5

300x3

390x3

480x5

Crunches

bwx25

Lying Leg Raises

bwx25

Planks

bwx60 seconds

Side Planks

bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching

Comments: I had meant to go for a walk yesterday to keep things nice and loose but I didn’t use my time wisely. I wonder if that is why my back was tense and acting up the following day. It was definitely not something that I wanted. Heat pad, soft tissue work with the car buffer and foam rolling. Even did some hanging on the dip stand and that got something to shift. Hard to know what is wise. I don’t want to be sedentary but I don’t want continued relapses of pain. If it doesn’t get worse while doing stuff, so be it. It does seem to be delayed with my body responses. I may just have to deal with some discomforts. Went for a brief walk and my shin splints were acting up a little. Put on the compression socks as I was going to be doing some deadlifting stuff. First exercise was squatting to a box. I misread my workout sheet in two ways. One, I had assumed it was just goblet squat/front squat interchangeably. So since I had made that assumption, I had thought the weights listed were for a pair and not a single implement. So my legs were feeling pretty toasty on the first set with no weights. Not been doing a lot of anterior loading for my squats and the box was a bit lower than normal. I’ve been using my couch for the squats so higher but I sink into it so it gets deep. Quads were pumped. So double weight I was supposed to on the remaining sets. Trying to go at a good pace and clip. I was taking rests to prepare my dinner as I knew the eye round roast wasn’t going to be enough. Cautious that this was just causing pressure from muscles being worked and not from direct action of pain. More that things are swelling and pain is from that. So this was supposed to be half the weight and goblet squats and this was to be next week. Light so it doesn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things. Yes, I did start singing during the second set. I have less inhibitions when I’m alone and in control of the music haha. Anyways, next was the deadlift stuff. RDLs with the axle and the pads. Appears this was a good one I came up with. Plan here was warm-up and then do 5-3 reps to a top set of 5 reps. I was thinking like 440lbs was about where I would end up if I was feeling good. Did the empty axle for my warm-up for a set of 15 reps. I didn’t want to add weight to it and mess around with strange jumps. No pauses on these and it felt much easier. Mr. Westerling liked the rdls I was doing but doesn’t think time under tension in that compromised part is the best thing right now with my back kind of flairing up with pain every so often. Fine by me. Plate jumps and straps. Felt good but I was concerned with my back as it was feeling tense. I felt strong in the hamstrings so I took a gamble and did another plate jump instead of going for the 440lbs. Felt darn heavy. A little lightheaded after that first rep but then I got my composure and got the other reps. This was darn tough though. This was the last of the hard stuff as the rest of it was bodyweight abdominal stuff. Essentially the core work I had been doing each week. Bit different in that this will be alternated with other stuff. Trying to make it be abdominals and not trying to force ROM here. Pulling with the abs on the crunches. Lying leg raises I didn’t feel any pressure on my lower back. I’ve been feeling that on a few sessions and it’s not a great sensation so that’s good. Planks were good too. The last set of the side planks was the easiest of the three holds I did. Ate my beef and big bowl of ramen before stretching and doing recovery stuff. Hopefully I can rest well and feel decent enough the rest of the week.

May 19, 2020 – Week 1, Day 1

So my own go of it was again, too much. But hey, I made it two weeks this time haha. My back was bothering me that second week and I just had to not even do a deload week. entire week off. I was fortunate that I ordered a dip stand or I would’ve been out even longer as I put that sucker together as soon as it arrived and was finally able to get some relief for my back. 8 – 12 ibuprofens a day coupled with muscle relaxers at night and walking every day became my routine. At least for a week. Can’t be masking that stuff. That should hopefully be enough time for things to calm down. I was a little worried since I’ve been off and on what, twice now with training with Mr. Westerling. I had a bad experience with Josh Bryant so I still got some trust issues from that still but I’m getting better at it. So I’m happy still getting to work with a coach and try and put out this dumpster fire of a year that is 2020. Pretty much everything is cancelled. SC Nats is doing an online qualifier and I’m already signed up for 2021 USS Nats. See how it goes.

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Lock Big 3

10’sx10/10’sx6 (nope) – 2.5’sx10/2.5’sx10

Axle Cleans & Push Presses (1 clean)

30x2

50x2

70x2

90x2

110x2

130x2

150x2

170x2

190x2

210x2

230x2

250x2

270x2

290x2

Rack Chins (yoke, straps)

bwx5

bwx5

bw+25x16

Slingshot Dips

bwx10

bw+45x10

bw+90x10

bw+135x10

Band Pull A-parts

MMBx10

MMBx52

Paused Floor Rolling Dumbbell Extensions

15’sx10

40’sx40

Stretching

Comments: So some changes to the warm-ups a little. First thing was shoulder drills. Definitely got a big weakness there. The first of the three was doable with the 10lbs weights but the others were not really and my triceps kept cramping up so I had to drop the weight down a lot. Not how I wanted to start things out. Anything to get better and keep going. I’m just glad my shoulders, back and knees aren’t killing me right now. Been doing axle so it made sense to see where my axle was at. Doing it in the street as it is easier to load and unload stuff from the garage and not have to go through my house. Also don’t need to move my sound system haha. Just push pressing doubles after the clean. This was feeling pretty good. Only going up to as heavy as I thought I felt safe with doing. Start empty and go up 20lbs. Standard stuff. Mr. Westerling figured I should be good for 260lbs for the top double. With doing the empty weight axle to start, that would mean either 250lbs or 270lbs. Breathing was a little off but still felt good. Wore the copper sleeve for the arm because honestly, it has never felt the same since I pulled it on that heavy stone of steel attempt. Not that it lacks any strength mind you. I was feeling pretty good with the catch height I was getting on the 2^nd pull. 230lbs I had a little hiccup. Didn’t get it up as high (slipped down as I was going for the pop) and I had to catch it lower so that was not pleasant on the knees as I wasn’t expecting it. That was also a bit more jarring and I figured that if anything felt slightly off on 250lbs, I’d just drop it and be done and move on. Chalked up my shirt and that seemed to do it. Two bumps for 270lbs and it felt darn comfy in the press. Was I really going to be going for 290lbs after the lay off? It has been well over a year since I’ve tried to axle clean anything above my body weight or even attempt to put it overhead. It did show as my balance was off on the initial pull and I had to rest it on my belt to catch my balance and then go for it. Two pops to get it like with 270lbs. Press felt good. Took them nice and controlled. Definitely had a third. Happy with that as this where I was hoping to be in a few weeks with prepping for the June show that got cancelled. Not sure if the rest, the barbell clean frequency or the lockouts for reps had helped here. Mr. Westerling indicated that doing all that was a bit much in a week for the biceps and shoulder tendons and risky/reward. Hopefully when my power rack arrives, I can swap in some lockouts to get that pressing power higher. Rack chins were next. I had been keeping up on these and I think I’m getting better with them. This time, adding weight to them. Two sets with just body weight to warm-up. Can feel these pulling on the right biceps but not why actually doing the movement. Just at the bottom. Like a reminder. I think it took more effort for me to find a way to secure a weight to my person than it was to do the reps on the top set. If I wasn’t using straps, that would be no problem. Not so much with straps on. I think I fought with the weight and the two bungee cords I had for about 2 minutes before I finally had things situated. It felt good. Just not quite there to get number 17 on these. Dips with the slingshot next. I saw a video recently that dips are an exercise Mateusz Kieliszkowski uses for overhead. No clue if these will help but they work my triceps hard. I like them mainly for the back traction relief I get. That’s reason enough for me. This was not to be terribly difficult today. Do 3-4 sets of 10 working up to a weight I could do for 15 but stop at 10. I figured plate jumps was the way to go. I figured this weight I could do with no stops and taking shortish rests. The last two exercises were the reppage ones. Light isolation stuff for max reps. I had mentioned how I liked the band pull a-parts for my shoulders so they are here. It was written for me to do a set of 10 and then max reps with mini band. I had been using a monster mini band the previous two weeks and that was darn easy. I didn’t want to do 100 reps in a set so I used the monster mini. Fatigue set in and I got just over 50 reps so still a lot. Back and shoulders were feeling good. Then dumbbells for the triceps. Extensions on the floor. Since I was going to be on the floor for a while, I elected to move into the house for the carpeted floor. Warm-up with the kettlebells and then the dumbbells. I was thinking I may not do that many with how it was feeling but I kept going and going. Stopped at 40 reps here. Good to be back to training. I’m going to need to make sure I keep up on my recovery efforts in food, stretching, soft tissue work and sleep.

May 2, 2020 – Week 2, Day 4

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Yoke Front Squats

Barbell

45x10

Yoke

90x5

140x3

190x1

230x1

270x1

270x1

270x1

270x1

270x1

270x1

Wide Grip Deadlifts w/ Monster Mini Bands (straps)

No Bands

45x10

135x5

Add Band (+100lbs)

135x1

225x1

315x1

365x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

405x1

Rogue Farmer’s Walk (16” pick)

125x50’ in 6.18 seconds

175x50’ in 6.90 seconds

215x50’ in 7.88 seconds

265x150’ in 25.92 seconds

265x150’ in 24.09 seconds

Stone of Steel Loads (56”)

138x1

138x1

138x1

182x1

225.5x1

275x3

275x3

275x3

Prowler Pushes

335x100’

335x100’

335x100’

335x100’

335x100’

335x100’

Stretching

Comments: Another day where I just slept in. I did wake up earlier than my body wanted me to though. I had taken ibuprofen and muscle relaxer the night before so that I didn’t have restful sleep and hopefully have the SI symptoms calm down. I did decide finally what the plan is. Register for USS Nats so that I’m set for 2021 on 6/5/20. That way, I don’t have to worry about doing any other shows for a year to qualify essentially. Only do shows I want to for fun. But we’ve kind of seen what happens when I do that. They get cancelled or I get injured pushing too hard to do too many things. The other thing is to try and qualify for SC Nats and the Arnold. Best option for that would be Beast of the Bluegrass on 7/11/20 in Kentucky. Kentucky seems to be opening things up earlier than Pennsylvania and I have my doubts that even August shows will happen as normal in this part of the country. If this doesn’t work out, then I will go into an off season training until next year as this year will be a wash for competing haha. Anyways, prepping to do a contest on a heel turn like this would mean changes. This week was already a heavy week. The thing that would make it so I could peak and have a deload and week off for the show would mean that I’d have to deload this coming week. Would give me time to test things out and hopefully have more equipment arrive (squat rack, dip stand, etc). Back to training. So I woke up around noon and thankfully not 2:30pm like my dream was telling me. Lower back stiff and tight. So I ended up doing some light decompression and a good deal of foam rolling. If I couldn’t stand up to this training , then I’m really not in any business to be competing right now. Went for a brief walk around the block. No warm-ups needed as it was above 70 degrees outside. A bit of a change from last time. Starting off with squats. Can’t do any real squats safely at this point but I can use my yoke at the lowest setting for front squats. Usually if I do these before deadlifts, I try to do them with short rests. With this being awkward as hell (wobbly, having to put it on tables and then off tables and pausing at the bottom), I figured that a EMOM was a better option here. New exercises and all. Not bad for no front squatting since I think October? Deadlifts with the bands again. I managed to get a new pair in time to train. I was initially going to do 20lbs more than last time but smarter heads prevailed and I kept the weight the same. I took bigger jumps to get to the work weight. 365lbs felt like a bear so doing 405lbs was not going to be pleasant. This still works for me as the deadlift event will be a deadlift ladder and suits allowed so this is kind of priming for suited pulling. Got the right number of pulls today and the bands survived. Though it appears that was barely for the one set of bands. This setup is obviously not good for the bands so need to reconsider training with this. Then it was time for farmer’s walk. Been a bit of a break from these. Been almost a month. Plan for the next block is starting at 75’ runs (contest is 50’) but I figured that for today, I should do the two sets of 150’. Doing it uphill and then downhill was the easiest way to get things back to where I could load them into the garage so I figured I’d keep that. For the work up sets, I reset the course each time. I’m not certain what the venue will be so I did them slightly downhill to try and work on speed. To force the gait a bit. I feel that I’ll have the strength for it as I managed to do that with the Arnold with the injury and lower numbers but my foot speed wasn’t great. I need that for this considering who I may be up against. These didn’t feel bad. The first heavy long distance set I was a little over a second slower than my best time. Granted that is 10lbs more per hand. I didn’t take nearly as long of a break and somehow managed to really book it here on the return, getting almost a second under my best time with 10lbs less. So that was good. From here, I wasn’t sure what the rest of the workout would be. I wasn’t sure if I should have the stone lifting for another day with another event or if I should be doing it today. I went with training today to see where I was. Contest is a three stone series. I think the same one I had last time I was in Kentucky. I doubt I will get a chance to use real stones and tacky before then. So I wanted to train things harder if I could. No grip assistance and higher bar height. About 5lbs more than last time I did these for a set of 10 reps. Doing triples. I had to do several singles with the empty stone before I felt good with how my biceps, back and knees felt. Right biceps was making me nervous. Lot of stress with the axle work this week. Seemed to hold up fine. My gripping when the stone is in the lap and I go for extension feels great and strong. Like I could fold the implement in half with a hug if I wanted to. Getting some ankle extension too so happy about that. Plan next time after deload is to add grip aids (tacky towel, grip shirt, etc) to try and get to feeling weight closer to my tackied stone lifting so it isn’t that great of a shock. Really, from past training, I need like two sessions to get back to +400lbs stone lifting territory. But that was 2018 and 2019 Craig. 2020 Craig seems to be achy and long haired haha. I added in the last bit for the sled pushing to work my legs some more without stressing the back. I feel that having to push up on the toes is helping with my calf and ankle strength. Also get some conditioning in that doesn’t stress the arms a lot. I know I’ll be doing a lot of sled dragging so the pushing is a nice compliment. I knew I could do a little more after the last time doing 280lbs and not feeling like death. Since I was going uphill and downhill, I knew that if I could do the odd number, I’d have no problem doing the even number back. Six was the plan here and that was a good stopping point as my rests seemed to get longer (still within a minute) and my times were getting slower. I usually get faster up until the third set and then I get the fatigue and slow down. Not a bad day of training. Just need to be smart and as safe as I can. I need to be sure to prehab and rehab but not have it take away from the limited energy I have haha.

May 1, 2020 – Week 2, Day 3

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

12” Log Z Presses

Kettlebells

15’sx10

15’sx10

15’sx10

Log

110x1

130x1

150x1

170x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

190x1

Close Grip Barbell Floor Presses

45x10

95x5

145x3

195x2

245x1

290x3

290x3

290x10

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: So just about every contest is getting moved or cancelled. Trying to figure out what the next thing is, if that means a contest or just more training. The good news I guess is that I can be considered already qualified for USS Nats in 2021 if I sign up and I’ll be second to last to go in the 308lbs weight class. Same location and probably the same weights and events. Anyways, on to training. I have been having some symptoms on the left side again and I’m not sure if it’s just from working the lower back and hamstrings hard that the muscles are swelling and putting more pressure than usual. Need to watch that and know when to fold’em. So seeing as how no upcoming shows really have an axle, I figured I’d do log for the z presses this time. Just warmed up with the kettlebells. Made sure I did a lot of reps here as I didn’t want to try sitting clean the 40lbs dumbbells. Those bottom’s up seated kettlebell presses felt pretty good. Log actually felt better I think as I could get the height right and that I had the crash pads so not so jarring. Same thing with the short rests. Just 5lbs more than last time. Only one rep that I lost balance on so pretty good. Next up being floor press. Didn’t feel as great as last time but I think I know why. The one thing was that adding wood to the saw horses raised them up a bit so not as great of clearance here. Not able to get the upper back as tucked. The other was when going for the top sets, I had used the full-sized 45lbs plates and they were kissing the crash pads at the bottom so I had to be a bit more controlled. The first set with 290lbs felt fine. The second was garbage as I kept hitting the saw horses. Last set was ok for the max rep set. Ended up air humping the last rep to get it. Would’ve liked it clean. I know I can do better. Upper back super set after the pressing. Same as last time. I don’t have any heavier matched pairs of dumbbells for the swings and the raise just would be too much if I tried to increase the weight much. It feels perfect where it is right now. No plans to increase this in weight or reps. It feels good and is just added for the back work and the shoulder health. I don’t think I felt as “paralyzed” after a set as I did last week. Last thing being rack chins. Same as last time here too. I need to become more proficient and master the bodyweight only version of these. Less biceps issues on the right side. I’m getting better at these I think. Only really felt like I was pushing it on the last set. I need to make sure my body calms down or training may not be possible tomorrow. I have to be smart. As smart as I can be lifting and running with stuff that is.