August 20, 2020 – Week 1, Day 2

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)

Mobility Prep

Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
40x10
40x10

3” Platform Deadlifts w/ bands
No Bands
45x10
135x5
225x1
Added Bands (+32lbs bottom/+162lbs top)
135x1
185x1
225x1
275x1
Added Straps
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1

Ab Wheel
bwx10
 
Side Plank Raises
bwx10/10

Stretching

Comments: Not sure what I was expecting for today. It was very different from what I’ve done with training. I mean the bread (start and end) were familiar but the meat of it wasn’t. I felt like garbage the day before. Had to take allergy medication. Body was achy and stuff. Warming up felt ok. My knees didn’t bother me like I was expecting. I still went with wearing the copper knee sleeves just because I knew how much they’ve ached after I’ve done deadlift from the floor the past two weeks. Even for the squats. Goblet squats no warm-ups really needed here as less sets and reps than what I was doing. I have been lax on these since like the beginning. Doing bottom half reps really. I made a point of it this time to hesitate at the bottom for a moment and fully lockout the squat and hesitate there for a moment too. Treat the exercise with respect. Now for the deadlift stuff. I should mention that it took a long time to setup the deadlift stuff. The plan is multi week with changing band tension, intensity and platform height. I spent my time from after I did the walking and mobility stuff to set up the deadlift band setup. I had thought I’d have an easy time of anchoring but turns out that my power rack really sucks as the band pegs that came with it don’t fit. Sure they fit in the rack arms which can’t hold up anything safely above 400lbs but not the floor ones. So had to figure out something else. This something else (as well as figuring out band tension) took about 40-45 minutes. Not only did it have to be heavy, it had to be not able to move. So needed all my dumbbells, throw bags and kettlebells. So back to the deadlifting. So plan is high band tension and 3” platform this week. Over the next few weeks, lower band tension and increase the straight weight and lower the platform. Then go back up again and start over. I was really not sure how this would go. I haven’t done any platform deadlifts in like 5 years. Idea here was work up to a weight that I felt I could do for a set of 10 against the band tension and do 5 singles. The 5 singles is the plan for the rest of this it seems. Bit higher intensity is planned with the following weeks. It took a bit to figure out a safe band setup (one that didn’t require me using frayed bands) and that was around the band tension I wanted. I wanted something that was decent and I could do about thirds of it with the bands I had for the decreases over the next few weeks. I ended up with more tension than planned. Form felt off at the start but seemed ok when I got to the bands. I was initially thinking just 275lbs for the top weight but my first pull with it felt so darn easy that I figured I could try 315lbs. This was not nearly as easy. I just had to tell myself that my pulling has been slow as of late. I still think I could get 10 but it would be a rough do or die sets of 10 reps I think. 2^nd rep felt much the same. I’m not sure what clicked for me but the 3^rd rep went up smooth and easy. I thought maybe it was because I had brought my arms in a little. Not quite, 4^th didn’t feel as good a 3^rd but felt better than the first two. Last single I brought my stance in a little and that one rocketed up. My best of the day. Need to get my leg drive back. I think I’ve been using wider stance because of the RDLs for the hips but neglecting the leg drive being better with slightly narrower stance. I’ll have to keep playing around with things. It is an encouraging sign. Last bit was abdominal stuff. Heavily reduced volume on these. Easy stuff, like an afterthought but I made sure I did solid reps on these. Felt good to stretch and ice. I actually felt better than I had felt before the workout.