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.