Wednesday, March 24, 2021

March 23, 2021 – Week 2, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
14” Jack Stand Pulls
135x5
185x3
225x1
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
Added Straps
445x1
485x3
485x3
485x3
485x3

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (3 seconds mid-shin, beltless)
135x3
185x3
225x3
Added Straps
275x3
315x10
285x10
285x10

Lateral Step Downs (14”)/ Copenhagen Planks (ver 1)
bwx3x10/10—bwx20/20 seconds
bwx3x10/10—bwx20/20 seconds
bwx3x10/10—bwx20/20 seconds

Seated Band Hamstring Curls/Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
(2)mb’sX20/bwx10 (5 unassisted)/10 (7 unassisted)
(2)mb’sX20/bwx10 (4 unassisted)/10 (8 unassisted)

Stretching
 
Comments: Well good news is that the parts of my legs that were sore yesterday aren’t as sore today. The bad news it new parts of my legs are sore from the push pressing haha. So no foam rolling or stretching to start this session out. Might have needed some of that today for my quads. Right into the movement prep. Oof, ATG split squats did not want to happen today. I needed to do a little stretching for the tight hip flexors. They eventually loosened up enough that I was able to get in a tough set. Band marches didn’t help alleviate the soreness one bit haha. Then on to the dead bugs and side planks. And then run through it again. Split squats felt a ton better the second time through. Everything else felt about the same. Then into the garage to lift some weights. I had setup stuff during my lunch break to try and get stuff moving along. So same as last week in that having jack stand/block pulls. This time 4x3. I was advised to go up 10-20lbs from last time and use what I did last week as 75% and do 80% today. That made this end up being 30lbs more than last time. I really had no clue how this would go. 1) legs sore as shit standing up and walking, 2) more block pulls after what has been like 4 years of alternating weekly from “heavy” and “speed” and 3) warming up didn’t feel great last time. It is hard to say though about things if I had to do that to help recovery because I had low tolerance or if I had bad recovery because I didn’t build up tolerance? Warm-ups did feel better this time around. It was getting humid so I opened up the garage to let some air in and possibly mosquitos. Now the suggestion I was given for this was to try and break off the ground and then accelerate as well as try to get the lats involved more. The idea being to change out the straps as figure 8’s seem to make that part of engagement lazy. No problems there as these straps grip fine. I did do a single before the working sets just because the most I’ve done with these until recently was for rack chins and those rows yesterday. Almost been a year since I was doing those +900lbs partial lifts with the yoke for that cancelled contest. Honestly, these felt about the same as last week other than that none of the reps or sets felt as easy as that one set did last time. My platform shifted slightly on me on the last set but no issues. So after that was done, on to the rdls. So I did do them not the intended way last time. I was to stop at where I was pausing and then lift, not go all the way down, pause and then finish. While still working the hamstrings and glutes (and greater ROM), the plan was to work on the sit back and keep constant tension on them. So instructions were the same in doing triples up to the top weight and I was advised to push these but leave 2 reps in the tank. Again, can be hard to gauge with holds and what not as to what I do have left in the tank. But I figured I had at least another 50lbs in me from what I did last week, assuming that constant tension wasn’t even more taxing then what I was doing last week. I set up my crash pads so that I had a tactile depth to hover at since I know I’ve been guilty in the past of cutting these higher as I got fatigued. Well 275lbs felt easy enough that I went for 315lbs. In retrospect, this might have still been lighter than I should’ve but not by much. Close enough, especially with this being a 90lbs jump from last week. After that was drop 10% for another 2 sets of 10 reps. Just took off 30lbs rather than get into the tiny numbers since I figured that I was still light. These sets were quite exhausting. Last few reps of the last set was when I finally felt my lats engaging and being able to feel like I was doing the cues. Go figure. Since I was done with bracing against weight bent over, I was able to get some fluids in before moving on to the rest of it. As with last time, pairing of single legs and planks. I tested things out (I knew that I was not as tall that I’d hit my ceiling on the setup) and knee felt okay so I increased the height by 2”. I wasn’t sure really if I’d be ok for the balance and what not with my legs so sore. But I adapted. Only lost my balance once on each side on the very first set. Got better and better as I went. The odd planks I was advised to use my bench to try and get things aligned better. Maybe that worked.  Last item for the day was seated band hamstring curls and single leg calf raises with modified tempo. Most of my tempo stuff has been slow eccentrics or concentrics with maybe a slight hold at contraction. These were holds at max stretch and max contraction. I didn’t think there would be any issues with the hamstring curls but I kept them the same tension so that I could see how the other stuff affected them and to text and see if my plan to cover my ankles with knee sleeves/braces would help keep them from digging into my Achilles tendon. So success on that front. But dear lord were the calf raises torture. Like, I didn’t even have the balance to do them without holding on to something. I was advised that I could use my other leg to assist with the concentrics if/when it was too difficult to continue. I was very shocked to see that my supposed stronger calf was lagging behind so much. I’ve always had a problem with getting full contraction on the calves or full ankle extension. Not sure if just a weakness or if my very large feet have something to do with it too. I was getting really fatigued on these and a few times the block tipped and smacked me in the shins (only on the last set). So other than the calf exercise serving up a double helping of humble pie, this felt like a good workout. Big dinner, stretched and then iced my knees (mainly due to the bruising from the wood block hitting me haha).


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