I missed some things from the last posting. I was in a rush I think to just get some words out of my head and through my fingertips to the keyboard. One of the things that I think is helping with the knee is new insoles for my shoes. They had been really worn out. My arches may have deteriorated. I’ve also not worn my shoes a lot outside of going for walks or training as I haven’t really had a need to working from home. In the last week or so before I gave up, I was getting shin splints from walking. I had been doing anterior tib exercises to help combat that previously but it wasn’t enough. So now wearing the insoles in my shoes (besides my oly shoes and converses) and making it a habit of wearing my shoes during the day while I’m working. It seems to be helping that. I also ended up getting a massager that can let me focus on small areas to help with the soft tissue work around the knee and on my calves and shins. The car buffer still is good but the massager doesn’t remove body hair haha. Some people have mentioned after indicating how I’ve been feeling and for how long I’ve been feeling that I look like I’m happy. Like I’m ok. I mean I am ok. But just because I’m smiling doesn’t mean that not still depressed. You can still laugh when you have a broken leg. Doesn’t mean it isn’t still broken. Physical things are easier. We don’t always share everything. But trying to stay positive, stay optimistic, despite past experience saying otherwise. My father says it just means I’m due for a good roll eventually. I’ve told my one friend I don’t gamble and I guess that isn’t technically true. I just don’t gamble with my money.
2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
Mobility Prep
Front Squats
45x10
95x5
135x3
185x1
220x5
235x5
250x5
260x5
265x5
22” Jack Stand Pulls
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x2
495x1
Added Straps
585x1
655x1
725x1
748x1
2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
Mobility Prep
Front Squats
45x10
95x5
135x3
185x1
220x5
235x5
250x5
260x5
265x5
22” Jack Stand Pulls
135x5
225x5
315x3
405x2
495x1
Added Straps
585x1
655x1
725x1
748x1
3” Platform Stiff-legged Deadlifts (straps)
135x8
135x8
135x8
135x8
135x8
135x8
Ab Wheel
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
bwx8
One Arm Barbell Holds
(L)135x69.85 seconds
(R)135x63.46 seconds
(L)135x69.85 seconds
(R)135x63.46 seconds
Stretching
Comments: I wasn’t feel the best today. My lower back was stiff on the left side. My hamstrings felt so tight and sore. Like how is that possible? I think that I guess the overhead pressing required me to have a stiff midsection and doing the warm-ups made me use my hamstrings for stuff for the first time in a few weeks essentially. It had snowed and I’d have to do some shoveling as long as my knee and lower back weren’t touchy. The lower back thing had me a little concerned as doing too much in the past has been why I’ve had to stop when doing my own thing. I ended up doing some foam rolling during my morning break and then shoveled snow during my lunch break. I had brought my squat rack setup into the garage the night before because of the expectant snow, with it being another bunch of snow. Had put down ice melt too and that seemed to help. It wasn’t a big problem with shoveling this time. As the day wore on, I think stuff started to not feel so tense and tight. So got ready to train. I stupidly put in a roast before I started even doing the warm-ups. I should’ve known better to give myself time with all the new exercises. Knee still being all funky but it is what it is right now. Only the one movement seemed to bother it during the movement stuff today. I’ll have to see if the feeling improves or worsens next time. So for today, a little more risky. I say this in that it is lower body stuff with areas of concern being stressed. They kind of have to be for me to compete. So essentially the programming is my spin on the Brad Gillingham 16 week deadlift program. Accessory work with rack pulls one week, singles at submax weights the other. Rack pulls going down in height each time (4 pin heights) and then going through it a second time to try and beat those numbers. My plan takes some stuff out and modify some things I think will be beneficial. My pull from the floor weeks will be lighter percentages and using bands and my wide grip and stance. The first thing was front squats as that was what is on the program. Power cleans into front squats. But I’m not doing power cleans. Nothing really set so I kind of took bits from places to figure out something for the front squats. Make them heavier for the rack pull weeks. My plan is lighter with pauses on the opposite weeks. So this was going to be interesting. I’ve been doing box squats for so long at this point. I think April or May might be when I did front squats with my yoke for singles. Using the strap method to hold. I could hold the bar I’m sure but shoulders stiff right now from all the pressing earlier in the week and I’d rather just be worrying about whether my knee with ok with what I was asking of it then having to deal with the upper body mobility issue that will resolve itself. I wore the knee brace so that was a little funky at the start as it puts pressure and my calf feels tight. This ended up being harder than I thought it would. I had to remind myself to put on the hard belt earlier than I wanted to because I need to get used to the breathing. My newer belt is a bit thicker/taller so it was a little jarring going down that far on a squat with it in the way. I seem to be ok as long as I push the knees out. I could tell that I’d have DOMS that would last days after the first working set. I based these numbers off of 315lbs as a 1rm. Which I should be good for and more normally as I did 315x3 to box in one of the previous cycles without pushing things on front squat too much. I’ve done 385lbs once many years full range of motion and above that to box with and without an axle. But been really slacking because of issues and focuses. My hope here is that this will help with my bottom end start on deadlifts. I know I will adapt to this. Jumps weird because the percentages are kind of weird. So after that was the rack pull part of things. So as mentioned, 4 different rack heights, go through twice in 16 weeks. This deadlift plan was going to be my plan regardless of the potential contest I was looking as a possible goal. My rack is crap for this and the saw horses have seen better days. So using the jack stands. I had to test things out during my week of thinking and reflection in solitude. Figure out heights and whether I can fit enough weight on with what I have right now. My hope is that I can build the brute strength with the elevated pulls in a safer position for my lower back and work the speed off the floor with the band pulls and wider stance, plus supplementary lifts. I’ll be thrilled if at the end of this, I can pull 635lbs from the ground. So the heights had to be adjusted for my purposes. The program has them as above knee, at knee, below knee and 2” below that. I got a big knee cap. Very prominent nubs from Osgood-Schlatter’s that never went away. Above knee has never been a problem for me other than balance if attempting to hitch. Also could mean I’d need more weight. So I figured that it made more sense to do my highest pull from at the knee. So I’d have 22”. 20”, 18” and 16” for my heights. Big jumps at the start. I took off the brace at this point so that I didn’t have it get in the way of the bar. Really working on bracing hard enough to stop a knife and taking the slack out gradually. This bar thankfully has very little flex. Trying to make it as if I were in a position of starting the pull off the floor for best carryover. My hope was to not have any pain, and pull more than I’ve done successfully from 21” in a rack without it being a 100% max. I was still a little anxious I think with weights. I started to feel more confident after I pulled 655lbs. I then started to get into things more and have a little swagger. Training was feeling fun. I got to the point where I couldn’t keep all the micro weights on as I felt I was good for a little bit more after the725lbs pull (I had thought it would be my last pull with how 655lbs had felt). So far, so good with this plan. Assuming it works. The roast was done cooking by this point but I still had stuff to do. I’d need to do the other stuff within 15 minutes so it didn’t cool off too much from setting. So my pairing of exercises started. Platform stiff-legged deadlifts. More bracing work and trying to get my hamstrings to wake up. Taking grip out of the equation so I can just focus on the core and hamstrings. Starting these really light since I need to build up strength in the range of motion. Ab wheel right after that was a nice break. Easy reps and I think I needed to do something to be different from the pulls and squats. So the last item of the night was a last minute thing. So I had initially planned for the workout to end with abdominal work as side planks. But then I remember that one oblique and grip exercise. The planks seem to stress the shoulders out supporting my body like that, especially after all the pressing. This seemed to be a way to test grip and midsection for core stability in an event specific way. See the one contest I’m looking at has a deadsled frame carry. I’ve never done that implement and it looks like it has rotating handles. So why not work grip on the hardest small handle grip I could? My new barbell has no center knurling so it is smooth smooth. I wasn’t sure if I’d even get a good grip but I did. Starting with 135lbs as last time I did these, I immediately jumped to 185lbs and never got a minute. I forgot that there was a disparity between my hands with grip. It ended up not being as bad as I thought it was (I can’t count so good for time) as both ended up being over a minute. Ate dinner before putting away everything and then stretching. Last workout of the week is a bit up in the air depending on mood, how my knee feels and weather.
Comments: I wasn’t feel the best today. My lower back was stiff on the left side. My hamstrings felt so tight and sore. Like how is that possible? I think that I guess the overhead pressing required me to have a stiff midsection and doing the warm-ups made me use my hamstrings for stuff for the first time in a few weeks essentially. It had snowed and I’d have to do some shoveling as long as my knee and lower back weren’t touchy. The lower back thing had me a little concerned as doing too much in the past has been why I’ve had to stop when doing my own thing. I ended up doing some foam rolling during my morning break and then shoveled snow during my lunch break. I had brought my squat rack setup into the garage the night before because of the expectant snow, with it being another bunch of snow. Had put down ice melt too and that seemed to help. It wasn’t a big problem with shoveling this time. As the day wore on, I think stuff started to not feel so tense and tight. So got ready to train. I stupidly put in a roast before I started even doing the warm-ups. I should’ve known better to give myself time with all the new exercises. Knee still being all funky but it is what it is right now. Only the one movement seemed to bother it during the movement stuff today. I’ll have to see if the feeling improves or worsens next time. So for today, a little more risky. I say this in that it is lower body stuff with areas of concern being stressed. They kind of have to be for me to compete. So essentially the programming is my spin on the Brad Gillingham 16 week deadlift program. Accessory work with rack pulls one week, singles at submax weights the other. Rack pulls going down in height each time (4 pin heights) and then going through it a second time to try and beat those numbers. My plan takes some stuff out and modify some things I think will be beneficial. My pull from the floor weeks will be lighter percentages and using bands and my wide grip and stance. The first thing was front squats as that was what is on the program. Power cleans into front squats. But I’m not doing power cleans. Nothing really set so I kind of took bits from places to figure out something for the front squats. Make them heavier for the rack pull weeks. My plan is lighter with pauses on the opposite weeks. So this was going to be interesting. I’ve been doing box squats for so long at this point. I think April or May might be when I did front squats with my yoke for singles. Using the strap method to hold. I could hold the bar I’m sure but shoulders stiff right now from all the pressing earlier in the week and I’d rather just be worrying about whether my knee with ok with what I was asking of it then having to deal with the upper body mobility issue that will resolve itself. I wore the knee brace so that was a little funky at the start as it puts pressure and my calf feels tight. This ended up being harder than I thought it would. I had to remind myself to put on the hard belt earlier than I wanted to because I need to get used to the breathing. My newer belt is a bit thicker/taller so it was a little jarring going down that far on a squat with it in the way. I seem to be ok as long as I push the knees out. I could tell that I’d have DOMS that would last days after the first working set. I based these numbers off of 315lbs as a 1rm. Which I should be good for and more normally as I did 315x3 to box in one of the previous cycles without pushing things on front squat too much. I’ve done 385lbs once many years full range of motion and above that to box with and without an axle. But been really slacking because of issues and focuses. My hope here is that this will help with my bottom end start on deadlifts. I know I will adapt to this. Jumps weird because the percentages are kind of weird. So after that was the rack pull part of things. So as mentioned, 4 different rack heights, go through twice in 16 weeks. This deadlift plan was going to be my plan regardless of the potential contest I was looking as a possible goal. My rack is crap for this and the saw horses have seen better days. So using the jack stands. I had to test things out during my week of thinking and reflection in solitude. Figure out heights and whether I can fit enough weight on with what I have right now. My hope is that I can build the brute strength with the elevated pulls in a safer position for my lower back and work the speed off the floor with the band pulls and wider stance, plus supplementary lifts. I’ll be thrilled if at the end of this, I can pull 635lbs from the ground. So the heights had to be adjusted for my purposes. The program has them as above knee, at knee, below knee and 2” below that. I got a big knee cap. Very prominent nubs from Osgood-Schlatter’s that never went away. Above knee has never been a problem for me other than balance if attempting to hitch. Also could mean I’d need more weight. So I figured that it made more sense to do my highest pull from at the knee. So I’d have 22”. 20”, 18” and 16” for my heights. Big jumps at the start. I took off the brace at this point so that I didn’t have it get in the way of the bar. Really working on bracing hard enough to stop a knife and taking the slack out gradually. This bar thankfully has very little flex. Trying to make it as if I were in a position of starting the pull off the floor for best carryover. My hope was to not have any pain, and pull more than I’ve done successfully from 21” in a rack without it being a 100% max. I was still a little anxious I think with weights. I started to feel more confident after I pulled 655lbs. I then started to get into things more and have a little swagger. Training was feeling fun. I got to the point where I couldn’t keep all the micro weights on as I felt I was good for a little bit more after the725lbs pull (I had thought it would be my last pull with how 655lbs had felt). So far, so good with this plan. Assuming it works. The roast was done cooking by this point but I still had stuff to do. I’d need to do the other stuff within 15 minutes so it didn’t cool off too much from setting. So my pairing of exercises started. Platform stiff-legged deadlifts. More bracing work and trying to get my hamstrings to wake up. Taking grip out of the equation so I can just focus on the core and hamstrings. Starting these really light since I need to build up strength in the range of motion. Ab wheel right after that was a nice break. Easy reps and I think I needed to do something to be different from the pulls and squats. So the last item of the night was a last minute thing. So I had initially planned for the workout to end with abdominal work as side planks. But then I remember that one oblique and grip exercise. The planks seem to stress the shoulders out supporting my body like that, especially after all the pressing. This seemed to be a way to test grip and midsection for core stability in an event specific way. See the one contest I’m looking at has a deadsled frame carry. I’ve never done that implement and it looks like it has rotating handles. So why not work grip on the hardest small handle grip I could? My new barbell has no center knurling so it is smooth smooth. I wasn’t sure if I’d even get a good grip but I did. Starting with 135lbs as last time I did these, I immediately jumped to 185lbs and never got a minute. I forgot that there was a disparity between my hands with grip. It ended up not being as bad as I thought it was (I can’t count so good for time) as both ended up being over a minute. Ate dinner before putting away everything and then stretching. Last workout of the week is a bit up in the air depending on mood, how my knee feels and weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment