June 29, 2021 – Week 16, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Suited Deadlifts
No suit
135x3
135x3
225x3
315x2
405x1
Added Suit, Straps
485x1
565x1
635x1 PR+25lbs
585x1
585x1
585x1

12” Jack Stand Pulls (suit, straps)
405x1
495x1
565x1
620x4

Offset Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats (5-0-5-0 tempo)
15x8/8
15x8/8
15x8/8
15x8/8

Seated Band Single Leg Hamstring Curls/Side Plank w/ Band Rows (2 second holds)
abx20/20 – mmbx20/20
abx20/20 – mmbx20/20

Hanging Knee Raises/Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx30/bwx17/17 PR+2/2 reps
bwx27/bwx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: This was the last big day for the deadlift this training cycle. Been thinking about it since Sunday. Replaying the hype song in my head several times. Hoping hamstrings and lower back were recovered from Saturday. Upper back and traps were stiff. And good lord was it hot today. I was expecting it to be low 90’s high 80’s but it got up to 96. I had all my fans going in the garage and one inside the house to cool down further when needed. Movement prep was banded belt squats (for less time than usual) and core stuff. I kept the lights off to have it be cooler for these. This was going to be a bastard of a day. Workout with the suit feels like two separate workouts. The heavy deadlift workout and then the agonizing accessory stuff workout. On to deadlifts, same warming up as two weeks ago. Felt ok at the start but then it didn’t feel super awesome. I really wanted to get this over with. I was nervous. Not because I didn’t think I could do it, but that I wouldn’t make it easy enough. I knew I had this lift unless something disaterous happened when I did that first rep of GHRs with a mini band on Saturday (even though I didn’t have the workout plan just yet for this week). I didn’t expect to be given the go ahead to go this heavy considering the plan at the start of the peak was looking more to me doing 615lbs as the last pull. Pulls leading up to it weren’t exactly confidence boosting. I was dreading that I’d have a slow deadlift and it would be hitched or something. The plan was to make it 8.5-9 on RPE. Timing was a little off, slower start to get it moving but no hitching, a solid pull and not a grinder. Definitely closer to RPE 9. The down sets were singles with 585lbs. Those didn’t feel as easy as I’d have liked them to be. Camera says they were quicker than 635lbs but they felt slower and heavier. Only the last one felt somewhat like it should. I have to remind myself that I have relatively little experience with suited pulls from the floor. This training cycle I think makes up more than half of them now. It has always been really low volume. Next thing was to do block pulls with the suit and go heavy. Expectation was to do 3-5 reps with 1RIR with probably 620-645lbs. I messaged Drew about things on this, asking if I should keep the suit at the looseness I had it or make it tight as I would for competition. In the past, I’ve kept the suit straps not to the max when it came to floor pulls but made them max tightness on rack pulls. Seemed to be a good method. I guess keeping it as “training strength” and “competition strength” (or “battle strength” if a Dragon Ball fan haha). Last time I did the block pulls with the suit, I kept it the same tightness as from the floor since it was lighter weight and for max reps. This was going to be really heavy. I think another reason I don’t always have the suit at max tightness is to give my body a chance to adapt to the stresses safely as well. I’ve needed a lot of hamstring work to get to this point again. The suit had been really biting into my legs by this point and while the max tightness felt like I got a ton of power, I still went for the low end of things so that I made for sure I got a triple with plenty left. Definitely had five reps for sure here. Really pleased with how this felt. Hopefully deload and the attempts at the show line up for me to hit a big PR. Time to get out of the painful suit and do the stuff I loathe doing. At this point, I put in the meatloaf. I’m learning that I take forever to do the accessory work on this day. So the good news was that the tempo split squats weren’t supersetted this week and the reps were lower. The band news was that there was an extra set and I was told to go up in weight. Trying man. Going slow-mo (especially concentric) is really hucking fard! And anytime I feel like I can go up, half way through the set the fatigue sets in and legs are shaking. And recovery here takes a long time and never fully does as the fatigue is felt over the sets and it gets tougher to get through it. First rep is tough, then the few easy enough and then they get hard when I have 3-2 reps left. Between sets, I setup stuff for other exercises and put away stuff from earlier. What followed next was the rest of the workout being super sets. So first of the two supersets was band leg curls and the side plank rows. 20 for each. Leg curls were really tough. I think that I had my position further back away from the anchor point compared to last week. Also I had done a lot heavier weight on the deadlifts beforehand and I knew my hamstrings were feeling cooked. Still made it work. The side planks were difficult with the heat and the added reps increasing the time under tension. Essentially doing a distracted 50 second side plank. I had a little trouble with setting things up to have the right band tension and not be in the way of the other setups I had. I appreciated that brief respite. After that first run through, laid on the floor for a few moments to collect myself before going again. Then the last bit of the night was another superset. I say night as it was after 8PM by this point and yet still 93 outside. This time the superset was hanging knee raises with my single leg inverted tempo calf raises. I almost gave up on doing the knee raises because I’m so tall and I didn’t really have any clearance. I tried again and made it work. Just had to keep my knees bent the entire time. Better than the abs with bands thing as far as feeling like I was doing something. It has been quite some time since I’ve done these as I only got about half the reps I’ve done for my best go in one set. I did try the calf raises outside but they felt off doing them there on the bumper plate so I went back to doing them inside the garage with the other setup and that felt loads better. Kind of surprised that the reps stayed pretty close going for a second round on the calf raises. It was really hot and I was just glad this was done so I could eat meatloaf and stretch before cleaning up. Made sure to ice the knees. I  think I would’ve any ways even if I didn’t lift with how warm it was.

June 28, 2021 – Week 16, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Paused Axle Push Presses (3 seconds, beltless)
30x3
60x3
90x3
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x2
240x3
240x3
240x3

Viking Presses
+91(110)x3
+181(177.5)x3
+246(226)x3
+306(271)x4
+306(271)x4
+306(271)x4

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds hold)
155x4
Added Straps
205x4
2 seconds holds on first 4 reps, then normal style
255x8
255x8
255x8

Band Ring Push-ups (feet on ground)
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
mmbx5
lbx5
abx10
abx10
abx20

Prone Dumbbell Retractions/Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions w/ bands
10’sx15/18+mbx15/15
10’sx15/18+mbx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: Coming down the final stretch. Last lap to go. Winding down. Other cliché saying about coming to the end. Unless I’m mistaken, this week will be the final heavy one before the contest deload begins. It feels too close now, even though prep contest prep for 10 of these 16 weeks. I’m thankful that the disc symptoms seemed to have calmed down substantially these past two days. Uncertain if it is from the Nutra Disc or if just now calming down. But I’m not uncertain enough to stop taking that stuff if it works. MRI was quick and painless on Sunday morning. But have to wait until Friday to find out anything. Busy at work and with how hot it was outside, I didn’t feel it made sense to setup anything for the workout until after work. Shoulders had been sore to the touch Monday but that is more from the circus dumbbell landing on my shoulders as opposed to muscle fatigue or soreness. Middle of my right side of my back was stiff. Definitely from arm-over-arm rows. Hands were also a little fatigued from the 2” rope. But that is what it is going to be for the arm-over-arm and the truck & boat pull so need to get used to it. So foam rolling was definitely needed. Split squat iso holds didn’t bother my knees nearly as much as I was expecting. Other mobility prep was good. On the band TKE step-ups, I added another mini band. The way I was doing it the past two sessions it was pulling to one side and not straight ahead so I put another to pull slightly to the other way to even things out and it seemed to work. I had mentioned feeling knee aches in the right one last week. Nothing this time. It got up to 94 today and it was the first time in two weeks I didn’t have a thunderstorm right before I started axle work. Kind of wanted it to rain today a little with the heat and humidity. So this workout seemed to be kind of a deload but not really. I had mentioned last week the max axle single had felt like close to a limit despite the psyche up making it move fast. So this seemed to be an adjustment to keep from peaking too soon. Bringing back the paused push presses. Plan was to do 75% for 3x3. I was told that I could do 1-3 second holds and beltless if I wanted as training effect is probably better beltless. I think I was given the option for belt or no because of last heavy pull session tomorrow. So I elected for doing beltless and longer holds. I wanted to see how things have progressed from last time I did these. I forgot until I was decently into the warm up sets that I had meant to do just doubles working up. I then switched to the doubles. The other thing I was trying to work here was not rushing the unrack and going for the first rep right away. Also no rebound reps. This seemed to go well. Then on to viking press. Plan was to work up to 3x4 with 10lbs less than my top triple this cycle. Didn’t really think of it in that kind of terms as it has been mostly reps and such after that first baseline day. Knees ached on these a bit today. I guess from the amount of forward lean into the implement. Heat was definitely getting to me as the weight felt heavy that first work set and I was feeling like it was difficult to breathe. I think I kind of mentally prepared for the second set and that went better. During that set, I had an idea that I wanted to try on the last set. I’ve been standing up with the weight and then going for a press at the start. And have been doing rebound and non-rebound reps on this. I wanted to see if attempting to use the drive from standing up and go into that first rep would work as far as coordination and strength wise. In a sense, not have any dead stop reps and have them all be momentum and rebound. It did seem to work. But not certain if it will be something for contest, have to see how that apparatus handles as it could be one where I have to reset to keep it stable. The other thought was knee sleeves for the pressing too. If any press that would seem to be the one with the least amount of troubleshooting since no cleaning the weight to the shoulders. I think my concern with wearing knee and elbow sleeves and such is that it could limit mobility and potentially restrict blood flow which could be disastrous for a timed and rep event. This might be something to think on later after this contest. On to rows with the pauses again. I normally just do triples but I felt it was a good idea to do a few more reps to warm-up with the stiff middle back on the right side still. So hopefully not a shock going for the big weights. Plan was the weight I did for my top set last week for 3x8. That went well enough. Push-ups with the rings and bands again. At this point, I started cooking dinner as waiting until after work to setup had me about a half hour behind and getting close to 8PM. So the plan for this time was to do 2x10 and then max reps with 1-2 RIR. This was little odd this time. Last week the average band felt a decent difficulty and I was actually surprised that I ended up using that much tension as I had fully expected light band to be enough with the rings. Warming up the monster mini slid onto my neck and the light band actually felt pretty tough. Thankfully, no shoulder aches like I had at the start last week. Then the average band was added and it felt ok and I think it felt easier as I went. I truly didn’t think I’d be getting 20 reps with how it felt last week or even how it felt today but I did. Good to see that improving. On to the last item of the night. The superset. Same as last week with two sets of 15 reps for each. The triceps part was decently tough last week but I wanted to try and squeak up the weight a little so added the fractional plates to increase by a pound. The dumbbells for the retractions are fine as is I think. I was still very warm after training and eating a big dinner. Stretched and I did end up icing the knees before bed.

June 26, 2021 – Week 15, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Lateral Step Downs 
bwx3/3 (12”)
bwx3/3 (12”)
bwx3/3 (16”)
bwx3/3 (20”)
bwx8/8 (24”)
bwx8/8 (24”)
bwx8/8 (24”)

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses
Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
72x1 R
72x1 L
72x1 R
72x1 L
92x1 R
92x1 L
112x1 R
112x1 L
Circus Bell
130x1 R
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 L
130x1 R (shouldering only and hold)
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R
130x1 R

Safety Squat Bar Squats (5 second negatives)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x5
302x5

Safety Squat Bar Dead Squats (2” above parallel)
270x1
320x1
360x1
410x2
410x2
410x2
410x2
410x2

Seated Arm-Over-Arm Pulls (2” rope, turf, tire)
70x50’
120x50’ in 20.66 seconds
220x50’ in 23.05 seconds
310x50’ in 26.98 seconds
400x50’ in 32.13 seconds

Belt Squat Marches
200x30
250x30
300x30

Copenhagen Planks (ver 4)
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds

Glute Ham Raises w/ mini band
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10

Stretching
 
Comments: Still have some slight niggles in the lower back from disc bulge symptoms.  I did some more traction before I got in the car to drive out to train to see if I could get it a little more and nothing really. I guess as long as it doesn’t get worse or I feel that it is hampering things. One thing that might be the case is that I’ve been out of NutraDisc for about a week now waiting for a delivery. I’m thinking that perhaps that has been managing the little leftover symptoms for me as I ran out after the last weekend. I will have to see if things improve when I get some more hopefully in the next day or two. I say this as I noticed an immediate relief when I started taking it after my pain relapse in late 2019 and I’ve been taking it ever since for the nerve issues. Also have MRI tomorrow morning. Not nervous about that as I won’t find out anything until Friday morning. Just had bad experiences with the MRI stuff. First one there was a delay in getting results and the initial findings given were incorrect (told nothing wrong and it might be mental). That was for my back. Second one again showed nothing and I was told I was ok to compete (this was right biceps and I have deformation where muscle tore). I had to be careful and my insurance changed things go covered so I had to pay for it fully out of pocket for the deductible. So there is a low bar of being satisfactory haha. It felt really hot and humid although it was only 80. Warming up was fine but I was sweating excessively. Other people training there and working out said as much. I’m just too efficient at cooling myself. Lateral step downs again to start things off. My knees were feeling pretty achy so I did another set with the lower box height before I felt ok to move on up. Plan was 24” box for 3x8. These were a lot tougher compared to what I did last week. Left side noticeably behind the right side in that it takes 10-15 second longer to compete a set. Maybe I should keep up the icing of my knees some evenings after training lower body. Left side there were some reps that felt like the knee would go. So not terribly encouraging. No tosses today. That through me for a loop as initially the workout was going to have keg toss again but that got swapped out for circus dumbbell. It has been so long and I have to prep for a 23lbs PR in October. I knew the gym had circus dumbbells but I decided I’d bring mine since it has the thicker handle and would probably be the hardest of them as I can’t determine what kind is going to be used in October. It is really tricky training for this many shows at the same time. The plan was to do push presses with 75% for EMOM singles for 8 each side. But treat each side as its own EMOM. I needed a bit of warm-up to get my form feeling right. At the start, both sides felt equally awkward. One of the benefits of the gym was I had a drop tire so I didn’t have to worry about controlling down like I usually do to add addition fatigue. I’m under no illusions that I can progress to the point that I’m repping 225lbs circus dumbbell when the most I’ve done since 2015 is 187lbs. Eventually as I got into it, the left side got familiar with things again and it was easy. I chose the weight as an in between from using my best push press (162lbs but with 2 pause 2 second pauses) and best jerk (187lbs) to get something that would be my normal push press, which came out to the empty circus dumbbell. I had brought my grip shirt and wrist wraps in the event that I needed them but I didn’t. Right side was more hit or miss. I did a shoulder and hold to prep after doing the EMOM for the left side since it had been getting cold for about 10 minutes by that point. I’ve noticed in the past that if I don’t do something like that, my first rep with the other side is garbage. Last rep I rushed it and it ended up being more of a half strict press. But it is good to see that stuff didn’t feel too off once I was warmed up at least. Next was squats with the ssb. No tempo this time. Thank you. My legs actually are still a little stiff from Tuesday’s session. Like, weight doesn’t seem to matter as much with that kind of stuff. It is going to be awful. However, I was to do these with accentuated negatives. My choice of 3-5ct and I always seem to go for the longer. Plan here was triples up to a decent set of five reps and then cut off 10% for another set. I had an idea of what I wanted to hit. My knees hated me on that very first set and that’s when I remembered that I was wearing knee sleeves for these. Much better. I was worried on these that my shorts were ripping as they were tight around the hips. But no, that was just the sound of the fabric moving on my sweaty parts haha. I had thought I maybe went too heavy for my top set with how my last work up set felt but it seemed to be just on the borderline. The second set didn’t feel like I took any weight off as it was still tough. The rack squats again. This time I was to do timed sets. 5x2 with 10lbs more than last time’s weight and doing 60-75 seconds rest. So I did it with 75 seconds and whatever time after I did the double was what I had left for rest. I started heavy for the warm-ups and those singles were moving fast. Then the working weight and it felt like all the weight in the world that first set. Felt slightly better as I went but it was not feeling fast reps. Oof, still had more to go. I had to double check my workout to make sure I had the right order of exercises. Next thing was arm-over-arm pull. I was to do four sets of this and increase weight each round and get a good motion down. Ideally, keeping the rope taut and not touching the ground. The plan had been to setup using the exer-genie. But I couldn’t find it at my house and assumed it was at the gym as I probably left it there like 1.5yrs ago. I spent a good bit of time looking around before I started training for the day and couldn’t find it. So this meant using a sled. Which can be a pain in the ass in its own way. I setup a 50’ course on turf. The competition is a vehicle for that distance. I researched past videos of the contest to view the setup and saw it was seated on  a tire and smaller one at that. One that I’d not be able to get full extension. Also, the rope was going to be 2” diameter. All these factors meant I’d need to train this at a disadvantage and would result in lower weight to be used to get the training effect. I also anchored the rope higher on the sled to simulate how it would be connected to the front of the vehicle. I started with just the empty sled and realized it was too light but it was a start and I realized I needed someone to take the rope as it was bunching up on me in my lap. This isn’t a problem with a much shorter course training alone. I only went up 50lbs from there to see how things felt with a rope guide. I then made much bigger jumps. Resetting the course did give me some extra backwards sled drag work (just the empty sled and rope). At over 300lbs, the tire was moving so had to anchor it with kegs for the last set. That one was tough and my grip was definitely feeling it as I mistimed near the end on the second to last pull. I wasn’t successful in keeping the rope taut but I feel like this is easier with a vehicle resisting or the exer-genie. After that was something I figured I’d see show up since yoke is in October and it is heavy and got to work on the other stuff without destroying lower back. Belt squat marches. I’ve always been leery with belt squat stuff because of the traction. Some traction seems good but others not so much. Like, stuff that lets the lower body like from hangs or doing dips is great for me. Not sure on grounded stuff. Reverse hypers are terrible for my back with how they traction things. Maybe I was more anxious about it with just feeling some symptoms this week.  But the idea behind this seems sound for yoke training. Condition for it without the load on the spine. Put it all on the hips and legs. 200lbs was tougher than I thought it would be when I was setting up initially so I did my first set there. Trying to keep from teetering seem impossible to initiate the exercise but seemed ok after I got that first step down. I’m not sure if I was doing it right. I did keep adding weight and honestly, that initial pick up to start is the toughest thing as this isn’t made for the talls haha. Things finally winding down at this point. Copenhagen planks again. Whatever version for 3x20 each side. I went back to the 4th version as the moving the leg bit didn’t do anything for me. My right knee is still not a fan of these. Then on to GHRs for the last part of the day. I was told to do 3x10 with a mini band if I could and take off the mini band if I failed and finish out the reps of the set. I was thinking not happening with how things have been feeling on GHRs for me. I was going to just hold it in my hands so I could drop it quickly if needed but I decided I’d grow up and put it around my neck for max tension. I was just shocked I could do a rep, let alone a set of ten. And not just once but three times. Granted I was getting more fatigued each time I still made it through without needing to drop the band. Spent time stretching and letting my shirt dry out before driving home to clean up and eat a big dinner. I iced my knees so that I didn’t have a restless sleep so I would be ready to wake up at a reasonable time for the MRI in the morning.

June 24, 2021 – Week 15, Day 3

Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ bands
No Bands
87x5
Added Bands (+17lbs bottom/+36lbs top)
97x2
127x2
157x2
187x2
217x2
217x2
217x2
217x2
217x2
217x2
217x2

Inverted Ring Rows
bw+20x5
bw+65x10
bw+65x10
bw+65x10
bwx15

Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 seconds negatives)
26’sx10
46’sx10
46’sx10
46’sx10

Paused Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Paused Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls
13x15/15 —lbx15
13x15/15 —lbx15

Stretching
 
Comments:  Still feeling that niggle in the left side of my lower back. It’s been better but I’ve also had way worse. My thinking is that perhaps a little too zealous on the leanback on some of those viking presses. I decided to do a little spine traction with the dip stand before lifting to see if that sorted things out a little. I think this is only twice I’ve done that in the past 15 weeks of training. I had to do that quite a bit more frequently before so obviously something is going right for me. Not sure if that got it all but I didn’t add any weight beyond my body to see if that was good enough. Got some tightness in my glutes on the right side. But it didn’t make things any worse and I could feel some of the tension had dissipated. Then it was on to training. Mobility stuff for the lats, traps and scap. My legs were still sore from Tuesday, more so than my upper body was from the workouts this week. These felt pretty good today. I actually felt like this was the best I’ve had as far as control and ROM with the scapula work this whole time which is probably also the case for years. Bands on the log press again. So the plan here was to do 7x2 with 5-10lbs more than last time I did these. Same band tension. I was told to try and keep rest period to 60-90 seconds so I setup my timer for 90 seconds so I was doing the sets on the timer and I had the rest of the 90 seconds to rest and recover. I went with 10lbs increase since despite it being more sets, this was just doubles and it would be less fatiguing. I swear these feel heavier than they end up looking on the video. Was feeling pretty good on these all things considered. Didn’t bang my chin or feel like I was getting crushed or have really sore shoulders during of afterwards. Ring rows after that. Going up in weight again. 10lbs jumps on this are no joke. I figured that doing bodyweight to warm-up wouldn’t be good enough considering the amount of weight. I still think that what I didn’t wasn’t enough to prepare for that first set as that felt so damn heavy. Like 10 reps was not a given that set. It could be that the setup I had for the weight wasn’t as stable so that could be why it was challenging as switching up the plate order seemed to make it more stable for the second and third set. Felt easier but still not a ton easier. But at least it felt like I had reps left. Last set was a bit different in that I was to do just body weight but really hard contractions. These actually felt pretty nice. Kind of funny to me that I’ve only been doing these for like half a year and gone from doing no weight to a really hefty toddler of weight. On to the triceps. Plan this time was to be 3x10. I went slightly heavier than what was written because my plate math would just be me putting two 10’s on each side of my 6lbs dumbbell handles. I didn’t think it was wise to go from 10lbs to them because that was a solid dumbbell vs a rolling one so I did a light set with the handles. I felt like doing a set of 10 was needed to warm-up the elbows and everything. These felt really difficult at the start of that first set but then I seemed to get a groove going and it wasn’t terribly difficult to finish these sets. Not to say that the joint pressure and the control wasn’t making me work. Last thing then being the leaning laterals and band face pulls. No sense in increasing the band tension on the face pulls as this seems perfect. Went up a tiny bit on the laterals with how they felt last week. I think I either held the pauses shorter last time than usual or I held them longer today as that was a challenge. But I do like that this is the second week in a row where my biceps haven’t ached on the laterals. Put the weights away and then had way too much curry for dinner before stretching.

June 22, 2021 – Week 15, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Paused Deadlifts (3 seconds below knees)
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
315x1
365x1
Added Straps
410x2 
410x2 
410x2 
410x2 

14” Jack Stand Pulls
315x1
365x1
405x1
Added Straps
445x1
486x3
486x3
486x3

Offset Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats (5-0-5-0 tempo)/Side Plank w/ Band Rows (2 second holds)
12x10/10 – mmbx15/15
12x10/10 – mmbx15/15
12x10/10 – mmbx15/15

Seated Band Single Leg Hamstring Curls/Standing Paused Banded Abs
abx20/20 – (2)abx25
abx20/20 – (2)abx25

Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx15/15 PR+2 reps

Stretching
 
Comments:  Woke up stiff and felt more so as the day went on. Biceps had been kind of tight the day before and continued that trend, now with stiff shoulders. Lower back on the left side (the area with the disc bulge) was tight as well. Not exactly ideal for a deadlift day. But this was at least the lighter of the sessions comparatively. Could be related to weather with the temperature dropping 30 degrees in a day with the thunderstorm systems moving through. I was about 30 minutes behind schedule cleaning up stuff in the house after work before I started training. My hope being that the muscle aches were just that and would feel better during and after training and with rest. Movement prep jumped back to stuff from two weeks ago. Band belt marches and core stuff. Then on to deadlift training. Honestly, the deadlift stuff wasn’t what was going to be difficult today. As has been the case for a few weeks, the deadlift has been the paused pulls. Advised to add 10-15lbs more to what I did last time and drop a set off so it would be 4x2 instead of 5x2. I went with 15lbs, even though going up just 10lbs would’ve been 4 plates a side. I think I went up 15lbs because I wanted to go heavier and it would be the same weight I was doing for 8 weeks prior for regular deadlifts. I wanted some comparison. Despite the lower back feeling stiff, I must have been feeling strong as I accidentally did more doubles working up then I had initially planned to do. I’ve been trying to do these pause pulls without a hard belt to work bracing a bit more as it isn’t hit as well when doing the suited work. So regular deadlifts with hard belt vs pause deadlifts with soft belt. The pause pulls were definitely easier than how I recall the regular deadlifts had felt 8 weeks prior. So that is good. Some of the music playing during these got me doing little stupid dances. I think part of it was trying to make it fun and get into it since my body was feeling a little crappy. I’m in the peak and I got to tough this out just a little longer. From there, move on to jack stand pulls. Back to 14”. Relatively light weight since the working weight here for the 3x3 is something I did for 12 reps when I was allowed to go for max reps. Trying to be smart with how I break this weight off the floor. I feel I’ve made improvements in all aspects of the deadlift this training cycle. Then it was time for the not fun stuff. Tempo split squats paired with side plank band rows. Everything besides the tempo squats wasn’t a big deal. These tempo squats really suck. No rest as I did these last week and an extra set of the plank rows was added. I was a little concerned about my knees. I know, shouldn’t as I did these last week no issue and just did heavy stuff on Saturday that would be cause for concern and got through that with only one incident. But two weeks ago I had thought the same and then had knee discomfort and my knee give out on me during training and rushing to urgent care to get x-rays and an MRI scheduled. Maybe the hard work and strain I put on my knees Saturday would be effecting things. And honestly, it felt like it was going to be the first few reps of that first set on the left leg. But after that, it was smooth sailing. Well as smooth as can be with this exercise. Agony. My quads and glutes were just pumped that it made it difficult to walk after the sets. Cool down between sets was needed to get my balance and breathing back under control and to keep from vomiting during the set. These were even tougher than they were last week and I only went up 2lbs. Band rows with the planks felt tougher but not sure if the increased band tension was the culprit as the row part still feels easy. The bracing and holding the plank was the difficult part. Those split squats were sucking my strength away. Outside then for another superset. Band single leg curls and band abs. Not really max reps like last time. With the leg curls, I was told 2x20 and make it challenging and then to increase band tension on the abs to make it so I failed between 20-25 reps. I was very surprised that I was able to get 20 reps with the average bands on the leg curls. I had setup just the one and off to the side as I had expected to need the other one for abs. Hamstrings felt strong. The band abs didn’t feel right. Too much tension as it kept my body from going down and I had to essentially jump into it. This was on the first set when I was doing strong band and average band. I stopped at 25 reps. I started a second set but after like three reps I stopped as it seemed pointless. I then swapped in for two average bands and that seemed to work better but it was too light to make 25 reps seem that challenging. Not really sure what to do with this exercise honestly. Last thing for the evening was the single leg calf raises with the inverse tempo. My hope was that these would be a little easier this week. Didn’t start out that way but I pushed through and got an extra two reps. Last time, I took a longer rest between sides and my stronger side made it through easy. I took a shorter rest and it was still a ton easier than my weaker side but it was at least challenging to get through. It had gotten quite late by this point and I had a large pot roast for dinner before stretching. Hopefully a good night’s sleep and a day off will have me feeling good before the next session.

June 21, 2021 – Week 15, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Axle Push Presses
40x2
70x2
100x2
130x2
160x2
190x2
220x2
250x1
280x1
310x1
270x3
270x3

Viking Strict Presses w/ bands (+36lbs (+27lbs) bottom/+45lbs (+34lbs) top)
+11(50)x3
+56(83.5)x3
+101(117)x3
+146(151)x3
+191(185)x3
+191(185)x3
+191(185)x3
+191(185)x10

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds hold, straps)
155x3
200x3
2 seconds holds on first 4 reps, then normal style
245x8
250x8
255x8

Band Ring Push-ups (feet on ground)
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
mmbx5
lbx5
abx10
abx10
abx10
abx10

Prone Dumbbell Retractions/Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions w/ bands
10’sx15/17+mbx15/15
10’sx15/17+mbx15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: Another week. I was a zombie the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday from training. Still didn’t get everything I wanted to get done on my weekend for the week ahead. It is probably ok that it was a longer workout as that will be closer to contest conditions, especially since the two shows after this one in July have over 115 people signed up across all classes. Today was going to be a hot one. Same movement prep and stretching to get ready. Everything seemed good and then right after I finished it, my right knee decides to be difficult. And just like last week, I couldn’t go out right away to training as another thunderstorm brought a deluge of rain. I wasn’t expecting that but these storms tend to move faster than the forecasts say in the summer. It was to be off and on like last week but never materialized beyond that initial downpour. So then on to axle after wiping it down. So this time it didn’t have a set weight. It gave me guesses as far as percentage of 1rm for the day. No set warm-ups. The goal was to hit a top single that was RPE 8 and then take off 12-15% of that and do 2x3. I decided I’d stick to the warm-ups I’ve been doing of going up in doubles with 30lbs jumps. I debated on going for 308lbs or 310lbs. The projected was to be 306lbs but I’ve been going up 2lbs on everything to get nice round numbers divisible by 5lbs. Knee was cranky on the right side. I was feeling a little worn and I’m not sure if that was from the heat and humidity or from the fingal finger work on Saturday coupled with a long ass workout. Switching to singles didn’t give me much confidence. 280lbs actually was a tough lockout. And I’m planning on doing 30lbs more than that? 310lbs would be the most weight I’ve put overhead in over a year. Even when it is a weight I’ve done before, if it hasn’t been done in some time or it’s not a sure thing in my head, I get anxious and dig into that flight or fight reserve. This lead to my 310lbs lift to go up easier than 280lbs. Definitely looked RPE 8 but with how form dependent this lift is, it had to move fast to get to that point for me to lock it out with my hips and shoulders helping the triceps. I’m happy that I got it but I do wonder if I’m getting close to the limits before I need to deload. I had already thought in my head that if I missed the lift, I was going to do my down sets based off the 280lbs. Down sets I took 40lbs off. They felt heavy and hard to lockout but they seem to look fine on camera. My upper abs were feeling crampy so I made sure I got more fluids in me after I was done with axle. On to viking press with bands again. Strict presses. Same tension but increasing the weight added by 10lbs. The plan was to do that weight for 3x3 and then do a max rep set. The first few triples were to be done in a way to practice for having a down call that was a little slow. If a sloth were giving it. From last time, I was doing more of a standing incline press and wasn’t getting my head through and having my shoulder girdle mobile like I am when doing viking press. So doing the holds at lockout gave me a chance to reinforce that. The rep set I was not to hold the lockouts. I didn’t expect to be moving it that well after that. I was told to keep a rep in the tank and not have any sideways grinding reps. I was trying different styles of the press to see what worked best and it seems that different ways work better based off fatigue. Good to know. On to rows. With the setup and tear down between the different exercises, it did give me time to get more fluids in without risking having water belly before a lift. Back down to sets of 8 on these. Advised I could increase the difficulty a little. Still doing holds on the first half of the set. I was very surprised with how easy that first set was. I was expecting adding 15lbs would be enough but it wasn’t. I went up just 5lbs after that to see if that got me into the range I was looking for. It did but I thought I could go up a little more. Last set actually felt a little easier than the middle set. It was definitely heating up out there as all the rain had essentially evaporated by this point and it well past 7PM. Push-ups with bands again. But not exactly, as these were now on the rings. Back to where we started with these crazy push-ups. 4x10 was the plan and idea was to leave 3RIR on each set. No accentuated negatives. I didn’t think I’d be using as heavy a band tension as I did. I fully was expecting light bands to be enough but it just felt way too easy so I took a little rest and put the average band on. I feel that it was right in the parameters of difficulty. Last bit of the night was superset again. I did take a little break to put some stuff away and to get my dinner cooking. Two sets. Reps decreased for the triceps so I went up 5lbs on that. Prone dumbbell stuff is still the same. It is always the second set that gets me on these. But no stoppage this time. Put everything away and ate a big dinner before stretching. I’ve been not icing the knees for a week, trying to see how that goes as stuff seems to be doing ok.

June 19, 2021 – Week 14, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Lateral Step Downs 
bwx3/3 (12”)
bwx3/3 (16”)
bwx10/10 (20”)
bwx10/10 (22”) PR+2”
bwx10/10 (24”) PR+4”

Keg Tosses (15’, from 10’ away)
23x1
23x1
23x1
23x1
23x1

Sandbag Tosses (15’)
30x1
40x1
50x1
50x1
50x1
50x5

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 seconds)
65x5
115x2
165x2
215x2
265x2
315x2
365x3
330x3
330x3
330x3
330x3

Fingal Finger Clean and Presses (starts)
400x3
400x3
400x3
400x3

Atlas Stone Over Bar (54”, tacky)
240x1
290x1
310x1
330x1
345x2
345x2
345x2
345x2
345x2
345x1 (missed 2nd)
345x2
345x1

Lying Leg Curls
45x3
90x3
135x12
135x12
135x18

Copenhagen Planks (ver 5)
bwx25/25 seconds
bwx25/25 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: It has been a good training week. Been an odd week as far as work stuff but training has been good. There is a focus now that wasn’t there before. That is not to say I haven’t had focus but I’m feeling myself and with how that last training session on the weekend went with my knee and just stuff seems to be lining up. The rest of the year as been mapped out for competitions assuming no disruptions. I was a little anxious about how this weekend’s training would be with the plans in place and with taking the knee into consideration. Some miscommunications lead to finding out the training the morning of. And it was a lot of things on the menu. I knew it was going to be a long day but not certain of how long a day. Luckily easy drive out there and I was able to catch the one owner before she left for the day to ask some questions about setting things up (and to also let her know replacements for the bo staffs on back order). Weather was a little weird as it wasn’t the hottest it has been but I just felt really warm. I didn’t setup stuff right away for tosses as I needed to figure things out and it was a little more complicated. So right into the very truncated movement prep. This went right into the lateral step downs. I knew what I could do and my initial thought was to repeat last week with doing them from 20”. Last time, I had slowed down the pace and that was partly because I was told to but mostly because that was as fast as I felt I could safely go on them. I didn’t have as much fear this time. I was feeling good and decided I’d try to bump up the platform height. I didn’t feel it was wise to jump up by 4” at that height so I had to spend a little time finding a way to just go up 2”. Of course at the point where I’m getting to precarious setups, those children come out (though thankfully no balls were kicked towards me this time).That went well enough after getting over the anxiety of the first rep so I went and swapped out for the 24” box. These were getting quite challenging by the end for both sides. I was able to take shorter rests between sides this week. Left side is lagging still for obvious reasons. So that was done and then on to tosses. I had some redemption I needed after the crappy toss session from two weeks ago. But this didn’t go off without hitches. I have three shows now on the docket and so idea here was to get some familiarization in on some of them. So my session was going to start with keg toss. The contest after this one has it with empty quarter kegs, 5 kegs for time over 15-16’ bar from 10’ away. Need to take more precautions when it comes sandbag toss. Sandbags just plop, kegs dance and dent. So rather than tossing on the area I was, I was advised by the owner to be tossing off the loading docket into the parking lot. Setup took a bunch of time as I had made a new setup for tosses that would hopefully be less prone to catastrophic breakage. What I had been doing was using the yoke at the uprights and securing stuff between them like a goal post. It works until it doesn’t and miss just breaks everything at the weights I’ve gotten up to with sandbag. And with lumber prices, not worth rebuilding it every weekend from scratch. I then realized from seeing some other people that I didn’t have to set it up that way. I could have it just using one of the uprights and have an arm that comes out. The arm could break off but in most cases it would just get knocked out of the way. However, I ordered thinner PVC pipe so without having stuff combined to it to keep it from bending too much due to the weight of the target arm, it was not looking good. I did eventually get stuff setup in a way that worked (I raised the height by 2” to account for the bend that was still there). I was advised to try warming up for the keg toss with doing paused pullovers with the EZ curl bar to open up the ribcage and shoulders for that follow through in the thoracic spine. Then plan was to do EMOM singles for five. This ended up being a little tricky as that meant I had to chase down that keg and get back up to the loading docket within the time limit. Which was fun. So then on to sandbag tosses. By this point, I was already sweating beyond a normal man. I got that low-tide smell sweat going on these past two weeks with this heat. Need to redeem. On sandbag tosses. The assumption here was that light keg toss would warm me up and I think that it did in a way. Since I was tossing the kegs from a good bit out, this was a way to work that extension better as a “hail mary” attempt. The plan for today was to take time as needed to get 3 singles with 50lbs over 15’ and then try and do a rep set. I was a little nervous with how much suck I sucked last time. But my tosses seemed on point as I launched 30lbs into low orbit and 40lbs went over a good bit too. First toss with 50lbs was great. Better than my best toss with it a month ago. I was shocked how well it did. Second and third not as good but still counted. They weren’t clean as they knocked the arm out of the way. A little hard to control that as wind was moving it sometimes while I was going. So for the last set for reps, I was told not to rush it and be mechanical. I decided that I’d take longer rests (about 30 seconds) between the tosses then if I was going for max reps in a time limit. And I’d go until I totally missed. So this was going to be an extended set. First one was similar to the second and third toss. Not a great start. Then my toss came together and the next two were my bests after that very first toss of the day. I had a good few inches of clearance and not hitting the arm. I was so pumped. Unfortunately, the momentum went away as my fourth toss knocked the arm down (it had the height but wind had blown the arm back a bit) so I had to get it back on and that took like 2 minutes. I got another not so good toss that knocked it out of the way and that took a little time to bat back into place and by then I was spent and didn’t even reach it on my sixth attempt. But this was a good session. Inside finally (took a bit for my eyes to adjust haha) to do some ssb pause squats. I know. The PA had said don’t do squats. I did them last week light for long tempo and I did split squats for tempo light too. So why not do the thing that may have caused the issues in the first place (or at least make them present). So the plan for the session here was work up to a decent triple doing doubles and pausing for 2-3 ct each rep. Then take off 10% from that triple and do four more triples. I had thought it was less weight than that and less sets. With how the knee sleeve experience went last week and adding ROM on the step downs, I figured I could push this.  No issues at the start. Talking 50lbs jumps so that I’d get to possibly 365lbs for the top set. Then I felt that twinge on the first rep with 315lbs. Took my breath away for a moment but nothing on the second rep. I was thinking about calling it there and using that weight for the reps. Or even just moving on to the next thing. But I said screw that, I’m getting my squats. Added 50lbs more and got that triple. Took off 35lbs and then did four more triples, each one feeling better than the last. Fuck you knee. Another unexpected addition was to do fingal finger work. Show isn’t for 3.5 months but might as well. Thankfully Andrew was there as no one else there was going to be able to help me move this monstrosity into place. Setup for the finger flip is a pain in the ass and while we have three fingers, I think we have/had a setup for only two at a time. While it would be nice to warm-up with the 300lbs, not feasible with just myself doing it. I know the 300lbs is too light for me to do my work sets from experience. The plan here was to work what I’m bad at on these, which is the clean. So plan was to do the clean and then lockout as if I was starting to then do the walk down but drop it and do that for triples. I think ideally, I would have the strength that I could keep the momentum going and be able to launch it up high enough to not have it become a clean and press and be more of a muscle snatch. I was a little concerned about how the biceps would handle this. I couldn’t quite remember all that I wore the two times I’ve done these in the past but apparently I had worn a hard belt. I didn’t this time. I did have on wrist wraps and receiver gloves. As with most things, I seemed to feel better as I went on these over the sets. I just knew though that this was going to suck putting away as odds are I will not have Andrew around by then. On to stones. I was feeling beat and I was definitely going through my liquids quicker than I thought I would. The plan for today was 7 doubles EMOM. And I’d rather not do them to platform and bouncy floor. Two things; one was that I was told to do 3-4 warm-up singles. Fine. I had been doing only two with big jumps. I only put on a light tack and didn’t reapply for any of the warm-ups. Realized I needed to secure my grip a bit better doing that last warm-up with 330lbs. But I was very hot. Second was that it was my choice, either the 330lbs stone or the 345lbs stone for the EMOM. Being the idiot I am, I went for the heavier weight. Not because I didn’t think I could do it, but because I knew it was going to be hard. It’s not the heaviest weight I’ve attempted for a loading EMOM but it would be the most sets at this kind of weight and being doubles rather than singles is a ton more taxing. The only person I trusted to help me that was there was pro strongwoman Jodi Kennedy. Things didn’t go ideally for perfect recovery but that probably was better in the long run for prepping for the contest. I’m good bit taller than Jodi and returning a 345lbs stone is no small task for anyone. So it took a few seconds for it to come back to me. I was seriously reconsidering doing this weight with how I was feeling after two doubles in. The stone was actually going up quite easy. Second to last double, I let fatigue get the better of me and rushed the second lift, being too far away from the bar. That miss and the strain against the bar cost me. It was going to be a struggle to get that next double. I almost lost it trying to pick it up but I reasserted my dominance of the stone and got it up. I took a bit of breather since this was the last one to get that final double. I took about 90 seconds after that was done to get that rep I missed. Get those 14 reps total. The stone could tell I was done with it as it rolled away from me after the load. I had to clean up and finish out the day. I was to do 10lbs more than my top set last time for 2x12 and then max reps. I think that I thought that this was the same weight as last time and I figured that 3 plates added was easier for me and I’d be a lot stronger with this machine since I understood what it was about. So ended up doing 20lbs more than last time. And it went pretty good. Between sets, I was trying in vain to put the finger away and eventually had Jodi help me get it up against the wall. Copenhagen planks to end the day. Two sets this time for 25 seconds at whatever variation. I did the hardest one with leg movement. Pain in the right knee was much less this time. I was absolutely wiped after this workout. Took over 5hrs to complete and I still had to stretch and then drive home. I didn’t think the pot roast I had at home was going to be enough so I ordered Thai food to supplement with it. Going to need the next day to recover I think haha.

June 17, 2021 – Week 14, Day 3

Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x5
130x3
160x3
190x3
220x3
250x3
280x3 PR+13lbs
245x4
245x4
245x4

Inverted Ring Rows
bw+10x5
bw+55x10
bw+55x10
bw+55x10
bw+55x16 PR+10lbs

Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 seconds negatives)
10’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx16 PR+4 reps

Paused Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Paused Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls
12x15/15 —lbx15
12x15/15 —lbx15

Stretching
 
Comments:  I wanted the day to be done. This whole week I was just wanting to take a break. Sleep cycle was off a bit as I don’t think I got to bed before midnight any evening. Luckily still teleworking so I can still get 8hrs not dealing with commute even with that going on. Part of the stress of the day was waiting to find out if I was be recalled or not to start back in the office next month. I apparently made the cut but who knows how long that is. Mobility stuff for the lats, traps and scap. My upper abdominals were a little unhappy with some things but nothing major. So back to log without bands. Which seems to be the thing right now. Plan for the day was to work up to a triple that left me with 1-2 reps in the tank and then doe 3x4 with a percent based off of that for down sets. Anything over 267lbs on incline log press was going to be a PR for me as never tried heavier. Unracking was feeling pretty good and shoulders seemed ok. I did wonder if maybe doing triples all the way up (I did do a set of five and 40lbs jump at the start) with 30lbs jumps might make me fatigued prematurely. Possible but I told myself that that is what I’ve been doing for all these weeks and the idea with the second day is to have an auxiliary pressing to get those reps and work in. I’ve only just recently gotten used to it and reaping the rewards of it so no reason to screw with that. I’m not training for a max incline log bench press. Training is training. I have to think and rethink these things to keep the intent and focus on the right thing and not be going all out at all times. Do all the things all the time. The workout sets always feel rough on these and I think that feeling maybe helps because then I feel like I have to take that top set seriously. Can screw around. I knew I had my triple on that first rep, barring some catastrophic injury during the set. It felt good to continuing to see this improve. There was most definitely a rep there and most likely two. Down set I had some balance issues with unracking on the first set. Maybe the second too. I feel like I got better each set though. I went with the higher percentage. I mean, I had just done slightly heavier for more than double the reps two weeks prior. I’ve been reluctant to put the wrist wraps on for these as I’ve done in the past as I seemed to keep screwing things up when I went to put them on and my wrist seem fine doing wrist wraps on just my overhead stuff. Perhaps this is benefiting me as well. Ring rows after that. I’ll admit my rest breaks were a bit longer than usual as I was doing that beloved past-time of refreshing a spreadsheet on Reddit to catch the result of WSM this year as it happens. Kind of. So as seems to be the trend, doing the weights from last week and then aiming for a max rep set with 1-2 RIR. These felt really good today. I did have some wobbly weight issues on second set with positioning of the weight on my body. It still feels substantial but not as crushing when I’m on the ground getting setup like last week. Managed to match what I did two weeks ago with 10lbs more as far as the reps. So up next was the lighter things. Triceps with accentuated negatives again. A little different this time. Still doing same weight for sets of 12 but then the last set was for max reps. I was a little worried I’d lose count of my reps on that but I figured out a way to keep track a little better. At least for keeping track of tempo if it is only one way vs both ways. Got 16 reps here too. Last item for the day was shoulder and traps superset again. Again just two sets. I was a little worried I was going up too soon on the dumbbells as those extra three reps per set add up quickly over the shorter rest period between exercises. But it was fine and may have actually felt easier than it did last week. Workout did go a little later than planned but that was ok as I had already had food delivered (I was craving shawarma and curry) and I had off from work. Ate and then stretched.

June 15, 2021 – Week 14, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Suited Deadlifts
No suit
135x3
135x3
225x3
315x2
405x1
Added Suit, Straps
470x1
535x1
610x1
550x3
550x3

Stiff-legged Deadlifts
155x3
205x3
245x3
Added Straps
295x3
335x3
385x8
405x8

Offset Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats (5-0-5-0 tempo)/Side Plank w/ Band Rows (2 second holds)
10x10/10 – mbx15/15
10x10/10 – mbx15/15
10x10/10

Seated Band Single Leg Hamstring Curls/Standing Paused Banded Abs
lbx33/33 – sbx30
lbx30/30 – sbx30

Single Leg Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
bwx13/13

Stretching
 
Comments: Was going to be a day. Had stuff that I needed to do. Stuff I wanted to do and stuff I didn’t want to do. There were some new things added for this day and I was trying to think on how to transition from one to the other. Any ways, on to training. Warm-ups were adjusted a bit. I think a lot of it now is focusing on getting my outer side of my legs stronger to prevent balance issues with the wonky knee issue. Already had the split squats dropped. Band marches gone and replaced with band walks with pauses. That wasn’t going to be a problem. The Cossack squats might be a problem. I held my breath on that first rep and when my knee didn’t just give out on me and explode, I was able to continue. But still wary. Nothing besides those changes in the movement prep. On to deadlifts with the suit. Well not right away as I still needed to warm-up first. Same warm-up as last time but heavier last single before putting on the gear. I usually put on a hard belt at 405lbs but I figured that since I’ve been doing no hard belt on the pause deadlifts, I should be ok here and save the belt for the suit work. Raw warm-ups didn’t feel super awesome. Left knee was a little touchy at times. But I didn’t think that it would keep me from what I was going to do. Suit on and wanted to get to the top weight. I was excited and impatient. 470lbs was easy but I pulled it like crap. Too far in front of me so I had shakey legs getting it up. I knew it was a form issue and I fixed that for 535lbs and that went up with authority. Now the top set of the day was to be 600lbs for a single (with 615lbs I guess for next time) however, there was note on the training saying if I felt good, I could go for 605lbs or even 610lbs. As long the weight felt like I could get a double with it. I had been thinking about this deadlift since Sunday when I got my workouts. Unless I felt like crap on my warm-ups with the suit (I can be tired, the suit never gets tired) I was going for 610lbs. This would tie my gym PR on suited deadlifts. Now granted, I’ve never gone for a max in the gym with a barbell from the floor. And I think this was like the 2nd time I used a suit so it was sloppy and my straps were too loose. But this one was going up and I was going to make it look easy. I felt like I had 5-6 reps in me with 585lbs last time so no way this was going to feel like something I couldn’t double. Little tougher to lockout than I’d like here but it wasn’t a perfect pull. But it moved well and with authority. Now the down sets were supposed to be 540lbs but since I did 10lbs more on the top single than the initial plan, I figured why not add 10lbs here too. Still moving good but could start to feel the pounds on the third rep of each set. It was good to get out of the suit and take a moment to breath and drink. Next was stiff-legs. Plan was 2x8 at RPE 8. Now my thinking was that it was two reps less than last time and the difficulty a magnitude greater so 30lbs ought to do it. Especially with how cooked I was feeling after the deadlifts and how my warming up was going on the sldls. But then I added a belt and that made a big difference. Apparently, 385lbs was too light for me today so I added 20lbs more for the second set. That was definite a good bit tougher. I don’t know if I could’ve done two sets of 405lbs (which is a pretty neat number to be doing sldls with for this many reps for me) and kept it within RPE 8. So happy to see that is progressing nicely too. Then came the not so fun stuff. The stuff that will make me better and keep me going. The suck. I was honestly not expecting split squats again after how last time went with them but seeing as how the other sessions have gone since, it was inevitable I guess. They are efficient at what they do and I have many years of not doing them to make up for. What made them just terrible this time was not only were they super slow tempo but it was also supersetted. Literally anything besides the split squats is just active rest for me. Just seeing how difficult this temp was on squats for half these reps did not inspire confidence in me. This was going to be a more of can I even do this. Move my body this way with this kind of control. That first rep on the one side was going to be telling. I don’t want it to give out on me but that anxiety is going to be there that first rep and then it goes away when nothing happens. I did a single rep with just bodyweight on each side to prep. More to see how I felt and gauge just how slow I needed to go. I could feel my quads and glutes twitching big time on these. I had to fully lock my legs near the end on some reps to get that lactic acid feeling to stop for a second and focus. I was advised to keep something in front of me for balance in case. These sets were close to 2 minutes long on each leg. The plank I think was ok. I could probably go with greater tension if these come up again. The rowing component does make a good distraction from the plank component haha. So the next part was another superset with bands. Single leg curls are back baby. A little confusing as it had RPE 7 but max reps. This was paired with the standing band abs and I was told to up the tension to something that I couldn’t get more than 30 with and pause the reps. Well with the band leg curls, I thought for sure light bands would be tough but I got over 30 reps that first set. Strong band still too easy for the abs as I could just keep going but stopped at 30. However, it is getting to that point where it is enough that it making it difficult to anchor myself. With the band leg curls, I did the one set with the bands anchored so it was close to midline and the second set having the band pull out to the side. Try to hit differently. This lead to the last item; set of calf raises. I had a feeling these would be tough as haven’t done the single legs in several weeks. And my weaker calf was letting my stronger get away with doing the brunt of it. It was a struggle but I got one more rep then what I’ve done for sets. My other leg had no problem matching that with little struggle. Put stuff away and ate meatloaf. And then stretched. Again, a bit too late to ice knees before bed. But I’m seeing if I need it now with all the new knee stuff. I kind of wanted to let the tempo split squats have the full effect.

June 14, 2021 – Week 14, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Axle Push Presses
30x2
60x2
90x2
120x2
150x2
180x2
210x2
240x1
270x1
300x1
300x1
300x1
266x3
266x3

Viking Presses
+91(110)x3
+181(177.5)x3
+241(222)x3
+300(267)x3
+300(267)x8

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds hold, straps)
135x3
185x3
2 seconds holds on first 5 reps, then normal style
230x10
230x10
230x10

Band Push-ups (3 seconds negatives)
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
mmbx5
lbx15
lbx12
abx14/bwx6

Prone Dumbbell Retractions/Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions w/ bands
10’sx15/12+mbx20/20
10’sx15/12+mbx20/20

Stretching
 
Comments: I had gotten some good news and with how the weekend had gone as far as training and just life in general, I was feeling good and motivated. I had gotten clarification on some things and will resume competing in USS competitions (though I may not pursue USS Nats for 2022 but not completely off the table). Options opening back up. I had been debating things with SC Nats as I have a good chance of qualifying for it this summer. But with how I’ve felt for a while now, my thinking was not initially that I’d even feel like I was going to be ready to compete at a decent level for my standards this year. I then limited myself to just SC for the year. I want to get to that next level. My thinking had been to qualify for Nats and then hopefully do well enough there to qualify for the Arnold again. I kind of realized that it would just be a continuous cycle though. The Arnold is a tougher show and yet only top placing American gets pro card (or top placing American that isn’t already a pro) and then the winner would get to go to Arnold pro show. SC Nats is top 3 get pro card. Events seem to be moving further away from what I’m good at in most cases. So seeing that USS now is going back to how the old Plat Plus shows were (winner gets pro card) and then top 3 invite to a show that directly leads to international competition, I wanted to do that. I was able to get back in the contest for October I had been in previously and moved to the pro class for that show. I may very well get last place but I’d enjoy the scene and events better. I’m still fully committed to the other two shows I’ve signed up for this year as well. I guess making up for lost time with last year. So I got a little pep in my step despite the knee concerns. So the warm-ups and such for today were modified from what they have been. Still foam rolling but not hip flexor stretch. This time it was the iso split squat holds. I was expecting massive DOMS in my quads but nothing so that is good. Or not, might hit later when I least expect it. Movement prep was also changed. No lat stretching (I thought I’d need that as my left was kind of tight from rough housing Sunday haha). No split squat stuff but did step-ups with TKE. A little weird but honestly, I feel like these got my knees and stuff better prepared for the pressing then the split squats. So up first was axle. Well not right away as the sky opened up and torrential downpour started. I know that that much power can only last so long and waited until it calmed down enough and went out there with a towel to wipe off my axle and then get to work. Plan for the session was a little different. This time, I was to do singles and then two down sets. I went a little heavier (entered as 298lbs) so I did 300lbs. That way I was doing a nice round number and using three plates a side. I had a confidence in me that these lifts were going up. I didn’t feel like I had as much of a lockout issue as I sometimes have been having on my first reps on some sets. So this was a good sign. It has been quite a while since I’ve done 300lbs or more on successive sets. It might even be a year from today that I did 300lbs or more on any pressing. After that, it was a downset. Numbers seemed a little weird as it was only 2lbs more than last time (which I had moved up to 265lbs because reasons). I just used my overweight 25’s to get things how I wanted. Perhaps I took it too lightly that first set as the lockout was a little rough. Second set no such issue. Rain was picking up again and I was trying to get things setup for viking press. Shoulders were feeling stiff. Plan was again appearing to be just 2lbs more than last time I did these but doing a low rep set and then max reps. Plate math had it make more sense to go slightly heavier with it getting close to the limit for the weight and it being more a lack of space. It was raining down pretty darn hard when I was going for the max rep set. Reminded me of a competition I did where the rain was coming down on the first two events. I’m that idiot that does event training during thunderstorms. Managed to get six solidly and then grinded out two more reps. I got to be careful on that as this has been how I’ve gotten pain in my discs in 2019 two weeks before a competition I had to pull out of. But I feel like everything else is healthier and stronger to keep that from happening again. Weight in hand calculation compared to what I’ve been doing with axle push press seems spot on. It was still raining some and I felt it would be a hassle to bring the setup inside for rows when I could just use straps for all the sets. Still the half paused and half not rows. 3x10 with 5lbs more this week. I didn’t feel like going much higher than that was wise. Had towel down from the start for my feet so no slippage. Now usually on these, the first set can be rough and then it gets easier. It never really got easier this week. Those pauses really sap me. Push-ups with bands again. I was feeling like I should go up to a bigger band. It is hard to gauge with the bands adding the smaller bands. I was initially thinking just stick with light band the whole time as I keep having issues with the smaller bands getting out of position (sliding off my triceps and reducing the tension considerably but only on one side). I did the light bands for that first set and then tried to do with added bands but it slid off and I just did the light band again. But I wanted to try for more. I was motivated. So I took out the average band. I didn’t expect to get above 9 reps so color me surprised to get 14 reps on this. Followed that up with 6 reps without the bands and I was done haha. Last bit of the night was superset again. Two sets. I kept everything the same. Prone dumbbell was feeling ok but the triceps stuff just was ridiculously tough on the second round. I had to stop to catch a breather on both sides (15 and then got 5 with the right and then 17 and then got 3 with the left). Maybe just how much more the average band on the push-ups took out of me or perhaps not having an hour break in the middle from the overhead pressing like last week. That was the only flaw in the day for me. Ate a big dinner and stretched. Didn’t have time for ice for the knees.

June 12, 2021 – Week 13, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Lateral Step Downs 
bwx3/3 (12”)
bwx3/3 (16”)
bwx10/10 (20”)
bwx10/10 (20”)
bwx10/10 (20”)

Sandbag Clean Pull Tosses (11’6”)
30x1
30x1
40x1
40x3
40x3
40x3
40x3

Safety Squat Bar Squats (5-0-5-0 tempo)
65x3
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x5
225x5
230x5

Safety Squat Bar Dead Squats (2” above parallel)
170x3
220x3
260x1
310x1
350x1
400x5
400x5

Wide Grip Pendlay Rows (3” platform)
135x3
165x3
195x3
225x3
255x8
255x8
255x8

Copenhagen Planks (ver 4)
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds
bwx20/20 seconds
Glute Ham Raises
bwx14
bwx13
bwx11

Backward Sled Drags (concrete/turf, uphill)
335x195’6”
335x195’6”

Stretching
 
Comments: Since Tuesday evening, I’ve been a bit high anxiety. Because of the knee scare. My strength appears to be my armor in that when I feel strong and nothing is wrong with it, I feel secure in myself. And when it isn’t, the insecurities and negative things seep through that breach. Or perhaps they are always there just waiting for me to let my guard down. By now I should recognize that this is the pattern but in the moment, it can be difficult to realize it. You can recognize the labyrinths solution from above much easier then when you are on the ground floor. I knew I was getting like that as soon as it happened on Tuesday and managed to tamp it down for the moment but it came back up again later that evening and as previously mentioned, I had to spend time off work to herd these cats. But there is probably going to be that lingering anxiousness until I can get the MRI done and know what is up. But I will have to do my best to combat the intrusions. Keep living. I say this but I was still anxious for this last training of the week. Following off the idea that the sooner you are able to move without pain after an injury, the sooner I’ll be back. But this one feels weird in that there was not really any pain. In either case, this training and probably future trainings are going to be modified in a way that I build up the parts I can. So it was a bit different today. Weather was nice. Tolerable I guess haha. Setup for sandbag stuff and then did movement prep. This was truncated significantly. For the first time in a while, the sandbag toss stuff wasn’t the first real exercise of the day. Bringing back lateral step downs. I was super anxious about these. I was advised to pick a challenging height and stand near something in case I needed to hold on for balance. I was also told to slow down the tempo and control. Now the gym as sturdy wooden boxes so I figured I should take advantage of that. Knees were a little creaky and I feel that is more to do with having to drive about an hour and this being the first exercise rather than near the end like in the previous sessions. I had it in my head that if I could do 20” (my PR) I would and try to do that for all three sets. Again, anxious but after those first three reps on the left leg, I knew I was good to go. These sets took over a minute each side to do. Didn’t help having small children playing nearby haha. But that was one fear out of the way. So then on to sandbag tosses. This was the clean pull style again. I was told to use the 40lbs bag for these. To be lighter and to get the bad session out of my head. The way I justified it to myself was increase the toss height to 11’6”. This made it a little higher than 70% of the proposed height (16’6”) for SC Nats toss event. It was probably good to do the clean pulls again only because the replacement parts for the new and improved setup I had in mind had not all arrived yet and it would’ve been a pain to rig up something with what was there. I ended up doing the 30lbs for two tosses as my first toss I hit the ceiling and it came back down on the same side. I couldn’t really set things up with the camera how I wanted to (I was indoors as my usual spot was being used by other people doing yoke and space was limited). Left shoulder tends to get tight on these kinds of tosses. I was trying to do them with three tosses within 30 seconds so what I’ve been trying to do with getting the tosses down within the time limit for an attempt. I know once I can get the pieces together on the toss, I will launch that shit into the stratosphere. Next was squats with the ssb. I was told to go for what I felt comfortable with (RPE 6.5) and to do them with a 3-5 ct tempo. I’ve not done tempo squats before. My hope was that these wouldn’t bother me and I wouldn’t go terribly heavy. Plan was 3x5. I was told it was ok to use knee sleeves. I’ve never used them. Not because I dislike them, just never saw the need. Same with how I didn’t use a belt for several years. That is why I did the empty bar for two sets. One was without the knee sleeves and the other was with. To see the difference in how they felt. Well they seemed to be a good thing here. I was nervous on every first rep going down in the hole as I was just seeing how that left knee was feeling. Once that first rep was done, I knew I was good. I did work up to 245lbs on these but realized that it was too much to stay within the planned RPE so I dropped the weight down and then went up a tad for the last set. Got to keep watchful eye on this but this is promising that no issues with the knee. I also know that I will probably have the worst DOMS ever in my legs in a few days that will just sneak up on me. More squats followed. The rack squats again. I was advised her to work up to something that felt ok for RPE 7.5 for 2x5. I took the knee sleeves off as I didn’t feel like they were needed as I didn’t think this knee angle was one that caused me issues. This one is tricky to figure out effort on as it takes a bit to get that first lift and then other lifts are a bit easier. Sometimes it can feel stupid heavy and others it doesn’t. I set my mind to doing more than my current 5rm for these as it was a soft PR. So I set weight up to do the plate-quarter jumps to have it be a nice round 400lbs. These went up well enough. Reps in the tank for sure. A little more back than I’d like but still easy. Probably from the other leg work beforehand. During parts of the workout from sandbag toss to the squats, I got to shoot the shit with a fellow competitor and talk about the old days haha. How they were ok but also terrible. I needed that. I tend to isolate when I feel vulnerable. After that was again wide grip pendlay rows. Same setup as last time, advised to try and do my top weight with 5lbs more for the entire 3x8. I felt I could probably do more if feeling on point as I tend to improve a good bit on rows session to session if doing reps. I started heavier than I had been and I think the threw me off a little at the start. 30lbs jumps to 10lbs more than what I did for the top set last time. I had some hesitancy as I wasn’t feeling like I was getting my lower body and upper back on the right page. I was blanking on how I would initiate this lift (safely). I think that if I hadn’t had that on the first set first rep and with how my warm-up had felt, I’d have gone up heavier but that first set felt about right for the proposed session. But then it was easier each set after that. Not that that is a bad thing haha. The next exercise I had almost forgotten was one I was to do today. Good thing I checked. This was the strange planks from before, the Copenhagen planks. I was told to do whatever level of difficult I thought I could do for 3 sets of 20 seconds. I test them out and I felt like I could do the second hardest (the hardest involved moving the lower leg and honestly I felt no difference doing that so I just stuck to everything being static). My right knee on the inside did not care for the strain from supporting my body on these. This didn’t seem like it was muscular though, just joint. No such issue on my left side. And with my counting, I think I was closer to 30 seconds then 20 seconds. Oh well. It was consistent at least. Then on to GHRs. I think I got the settings figured out this time. Getting double digits on these now with the low on pad knees setup. I will probably need to keep track of these in the event I end up doing “harder” variations. Last item for the day was a little tricky. The plan here was to do RPE 7 backwards sled drag but going for time rather than distance. I was to do two sets of 1 minute with a 2 minute rest in-between. The tricky part was figuring out weight and distance. I was able to do 335lbs for 150’ I think just under a minute a few weeks ago so I wanted to make sure that I had enough course. I could always make it heavier so that I was coming up short of that but that may make the difficult higher.  I decided to do the same weight as last time but just set things up really far down the concrete loading dock so that I had 150’ of concrete and then the option of an additional 90’ or so of turf I could do. And I setup two sleds for pulling. I warmed up by doing a minute of backwards treadmill pushing at a low intensity pace. Rested two minutes and then it was time to work. But I messed it up. The friction of the sled was so loud that I didn’t hear the timer go off that I had pulled a minute. So I kept going. I kept going until I knew I was going for longer than a minute and it ended up being 90 seconds. So I decided for the second set that I’d just match the distance. I rested and extra 30 seconds and then went. I moved the timer to my shirt collar this time and could definitely hear it haha. I was feeling really tired after these. Measured and turns out I was just shy of 200’. Put stuff away and stretched before heading back home to relax and eat a big dinner.

June 10, 2021 – Week 13, Day 3

Mobility Prep
 
12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ bands
No Bands
87x3
Added Bands (+17lbs bottom/+36lbs top)
87x3
117x3
147x3
177x3
207x3
207x3
207x3
207x3
207x3

Inverted Ring Rows
bw+10x5
bw+55x10
bw+55x10
bw+55x10
bw+55x10

Incline Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 seconds negatives)
10’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx12
40’sx12

Paused Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Paused Half Kneeling Band Face Pulls
10x15/15 —mmbx15
10x15/15 —mmbx15

Iso Bulgarian Split Squat Holds/Single Leg Iso Hamstring Bridges
15/15 seconds —30/30 seconds
15/15 seconds —30/30 seconds
15/15 seconds —30/30 seconds

Goblet Squats w/ Hip Band (dbl mini)
bwx5
15x10
40x10
40x10

Stretching
 
Comments:  I guess I’m ok but I'm feeling a lot of different emotions. Nothing has changed from Tuesday as far as where I am. I want to ignore it and act like nothing is happening with the knee since I have no pain but having it give on me like that several times on similar exercises tells me not to ignore it. But I won't know what is wrong (maybe) until next month so it is a lot of waiting. I'm annoyed that I'm letting something derail my good feelings I've had, even if for the moment. I want to keep pushing forward but I worry that my body is just constantly telling me to slow my roll. I don't want to be an injured hasbeen or neverwas. Trying to not think on it too much or it will drive me insane. I don't like things being changed from the original plan because I feel like I failed and I know that isn't the case. Have to go a different route to reach the goal is all. It's the things that require space and time. And usually sleep. But I'm also thinking about the good. I'm not in any pain. I can still work the deadlift. It isn't my back this time. I can keep working on my overhead. I like how my shoulders look in the side profile. Trying to think about how to solve this issue and problem. I know I've worked through injuries and come out better. Very little has to change. I have full ROM. This has been the loop of thoughts in my head since Tuesday. It was enough that I had to take half a day off at work the following day to take some of the urgency out of the day and deload a little mentally. What really gets me is that since Tuesday, I’ve done full squats and split squats without weight and not instability or pain. Just increased anxiety doing them. Can be hard to take the band-aid off. Fine line between brave and stupid. The initial part of the workout wouldn’t be of concern. Mobility stuff for the lats, traps and scap. Hard to tell if things were happy or not in my shoulders and joints but the mobility stuff felt good. Left side was feeling tight on the lat part and I think that may be stress related as that is the side. Bands on the log press again. So the plan here was to do 5x3 with 5-10lbs more than last time I did these. Same band tension. I went with 7lbs as it meant I could just do the log without dealing with the fractional plates. I think I was also wanting to put in effort since I didn’t do an exercise that requires a lot of effort on Tuesday with the split squats. Trying to focus on the things I have in front of me and just picturing that I’m getting my pressing stronger to keep up with the competition. But it does feel heavy on the joints with bands. I did take longer rests compared to the last time I did these. Shoulders were feeling achy. I hadn’t really done any soft tissue work outside of back (upper and lower), hamstrings and calves. Ring rows after that. More weight for 4x10 so dropping reps. I figured at this point, I could afford to add a little weight to the warm-up set. This weight on my body is actually registering as something. Not to say that the weights before weren’t nothing but there is an added pressure on my core that this weight is crushing down. As has been the case, the sets feel easier as I go. With the triceps, I took a gamble. I felt after last time, I could probably get through the workout using the 40lbs dumbbells. I didn’t think just a few reps with the 10lbs would be enough so I did a set of 12. Elbows a little achy but I could do it. Now what is normally the last bit of the session was the shoulder and traps superset again. This time it was just two sets of each and for higher reps. I lowered the dumbbell weight but kept the band tension the same. This seemed about right. Now this workout ended and another one began. This was for the lower body with the leg issue. So the first part was supersetting isometrics of split squats with hamstring bridges. 15 seconds for the split squats and 30 seconds for the hamstring bridges. The split squat holds felt better as I did them. My left side was definitely harder to come out of the hole than the right. The bridges were difficult and harder each round. Part of it is that I count slow it seems so I may have been closer to 20 seconds and 40 seconds on these. But those bridges were really rough on my hamstrings. Then the last bit of it was goblet squats. I was advised to have light band tension around my knees and to slow down the tempo. And use a light weight. I had figured that 15lbs kettlebell would be enough but it was too light so I went up to the 40lbs dumbbell. Felt easy. Haven’t done goblet squats in a while and they would always seem to get me out of breath but not this time. So I’m still improving. Ate a roast and put stuff away before stretching.

June 8, 2021 – Week 13, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Paused Deadlifts (3 seconds below knees)
155x2
205x2
245x2
295x1
345x1
Added Straps
395x2 
395x2 
395x2 
395x2 
395x2 

12” Jack Stand Pulls
315x1
365x1
415x1
Added Straps
470x3
470x3
470x3

Hatfield Bulgarian Split Squats
bwx3/3
65x3/3
115x3/3
155x3/3
205x1

Lying Band Hamstring Curls/Standing Banded Abs/Standing Safety Squat Bar Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
lbx25/abx25/65x15
lbx25/abx25/65x15

Stretching
 
Comments: Well this was a day. Things started out fine enough. I had decided during the day to move the squat rack into the garage so I didn’t have to worry about potential thunderstorms during parts of the workout and so I could keep the fans in one spot and not have to bother with moving them. Possibly keep things cooler in the garage with the fans vs being outside. Truncated movement prep again. Felt ok. Pause deadlifts again. Doing five doubles with 2-3 ct hold right below my knees. I was advised to do 15lbs more than I did last time. Feeling ok. I elected no hard belt again despite getting to be just under 400lbs. Part of it thinking that this lets me get a little more core work since that gets missed with the suit work. These felt pretty good but not as crisp and easy as last time. But it is more weight. These felt like I got better as I went though. From there, back to doing the block pulls. Only doing 3x3 with 470lbs. Granted, most weight done without a suit on this height. I was advised to not yank the bar and brace to break. It has been a little bit since I did these (and last time was with a suit) so these felt a little heavy for me but they still moved well. I was a little worried I’d be feeling my biceps on these but I didn’t so that was good. I could’ve done the reps no problem here. Then the good times stopped. The planned next exercise was Bulgarian split squats with the ssb but doing them hatfield squat style (using rack to stay upright and assist). I’ve been curious about trying these and see what kind of overload I could do here. But my left leg wasn’t cooperating. Literally just my bodyweight I was feeling that same weakness issue from Saturday that I had on the pause squats. No pain, just my strength would leave me and I couldn’t control or slow the descent. I had no issues with my right leg. I put on an adjustable knee brace and that seemed to help to a point. But when I finally felt I had gotten to a weight that would be working weight, my knee went on me and I stopped there. No pain, no instability, just my knee was just going on me. I was worried as this isn’t normal. I had thought it was nothing on Saturday after I was still able to do everything after the squats and then I had no issues doing anything the following days. Had to fight my brain from going into freakout mode and drove to the orthopedic injury clinic ASAP (they were closing in less than 40 minutes). First time getting x-rays on my knee. Nothing showing up (other than a very tiny bone spur) as being at issue with my bones and the PA found no painful or overly lax ROM manipulating the knee and ankle. No PT or meds, have to wait for MRI at the end of the month. Possibility of a stretched ACL and/or torn meniscus but generally I should be in a fair amount of pain from that. Didn’t really have any answers for me as nothing to really say until MRI is done and results reviewed. Said I could keep training but not do things that put me in that position and to think about wearing knee wraps (as he said that was going to be better than any brace they’d give me). Since it didn’t sound so bad and the rest of the workout didn’t put me in a compromising position, I got back home and proceeded to do the rest of the workout. The last part of the workout was hamstring and calf superset with abdominal work between. I figured that I could up the band tension a good bit on the abdominals and increase the band tension on the hamstrings since I didn’t do a bunch of single leg squats beforehand. The calf raise portion is still the toughest part. Other than that, not bad. I didn’t feel motivated to put stuff away (it was all in the garage) and it was really late so I wanted to just eat a big dinner and then stretch. However, looking up what I was told might be the issue with my knee didn’t help my anxiety one bit. Trying to keep focused on what is good, what has been good. But I seem hellbent on focusing on a negative and ruining things. Hopefully I lose some of this anxiety and emotional baggage during the night.

June 7, 2021 – Week 13, Day 1

Mobility Prep
 
Axle Push Presses
40x2
70x2
100x2
130x2
160x2
190x2
220x2
250x1
280x2
280x2
280x2
265x7

Viking Strict Presses w/ bands (+36lbs (+27lbs) bottom/+45lbs (+34lbs) top)
empty(41.5)x3
+46(76)x3
+91(110)x3
+136(143)x3
+181(177)x5
+181(177)x5
+181(177)x5

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds hold, straps)
135x3
185x3
2 seconds holds on first 5 reps, then normal style
225x10
225x10
225x10

Band Push-ups (3 seconds negatives)
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
mmbx5
lbx12
lbx12
lbx16 PR+1 rep/bwx5

Prone Dumbbell Retractions/Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions w/ bands
10’sx15/12+mbx20/20
10’sx15/12+mbx20/20

Stretching
 
Comments: It’s that stupid hot week. I had finally been able to make myself sleep in on Sunday and I spent some time outside mowing part of the lawn that needed it and going for a walk. Right knee was little sore from a misstep on a not so firm spot in the backyard mowing so I was hoping that didn’t effect training (only had a little bit of leg drive pressing planned). There were evening plans and with it being so darn hot, I tried to get stuff somewhat setup for training, just short of putting bars outside as I didn’t need to be getting burns from leaving those in the sun. I also got the fans out to see if I could make the patio area somewhat tolerable. I had been able to do some soft tissue work the night before at least so stuff like my knees and biceps didn’t feel so tight. Foam rolling felt good. Hip flexor stretch was fine and I could tell one side was tighter than the other. Movement prep was good. I was expecting discomfort but got none. Last week right biceps was tight on the lat stretches but not this time. So then it was time to train. Axle again. What appears to be the pattern is one week work to a top set and then back down sets and the other week do work sets and then do a rep set with less weight. So this was the do sets followed by rep set week. So on tap today was 280x3x2. Plan was the usual 30lbs jumps doing doubles up to 70%  and then singles. Which really meant just a single before the work weight. Despite the heat, I was feeling pretty ok today on the pressing. First rep with 280lbs was a little weird in that I didn’t quite have my balance ready so I was caught off guard with the bar path. Second rep I rushed it with how it went out in front. Second set banged off the rack arm on the right side walking out. That set was about the same. Third set was the one that felt the best for me. It does seem like I have a bad habit of taking time to get my shit together with axle overhead. Down set was to be 264lbs but it was easier to just make it 265lbs. I didn’t feel like I had the hyped feeling on the previous sets which is probably good as it wasn’t needed. It just when it comes to reps or new weight that my heart just starts pounding. Rep set was to be 1-2 RIR. Now as far as training would go since switching to home gym, technically 5 or more reps here was a PR. But if we go back to post 2016, I’d need to do 9 reps to get a PR here (as I’ve done 267lbs for 8 before). It felt good at the start but I got sloppy and my first attempt at a 7th rep went way too far out in front of me. I do this as I get fatigued and generally on all my pressing as I kind of hip shimmy under the weights and have flexible shoulders. That miss cost me but I knew that it was a form issue and I still could get it. It was a bit slow to lockout but I knew it was going. Annoyed that I missed it the first go as I feel 8 was there and still have a rep in the tank. On to viking press. Bit of a change here with not doing axle strict press. These were to be strict presses too with band tension added. Over complicating things figuring out the tension being added but then what is actually being added to weight in hand. I guess I wanted to know if I was moving equivalent weight and progressing. Plan here was 3x5 at RPE 7. The tension felt like a lot initially with how grounded the barbell setup felt but it moved well. I ended up doing about what I expected and was kind of surprised the last set felt the easiest. I’ve always wanted to do this kind of exercise and have tried in the past with different setup but that ultimately failed with figuring out the tension among other things. Mainly because I remember reading Dave Ostlund doing them in old training logs from 2005-2007. At this point, I put stuff away from the pressing and kind of setup stuff for rows but then took an hour or so break to spend time with family before they left for home tomorrow. I had done the math and realized that it would be after 8PM when I got done just the lifting (let alone stretching) so I made the call to stop. I had done this before this year with the dentist appointment. Granted I didn’t eat about 3lbs of steak while I was at the dentist so that was going to be something. So after that visit, I was back home to finish what I started. Half paused and half not rows. One less set but more reps per set. I probably could’ve gone lighter but I figured that the pause reps are the difficult ones and the regular style just take a bit to get the swing of things after prehausting them with the pauses. So I just did plate-quarter jumps so I was doing 225lbs. Could have been all the steak, the heat or just having really cooled down but these were a bit tougher than planned. Though in typical Craig fashion, the rows felt easier as I did more sets and last set felt just perfect. I had an issue unracking the second set so that was a little jarring. Push-ups with bands again. Move into the garage with the fans. This time it was 2x12 and then a max rep set. I decided to go back down to just a light band for this as going for 12 with the light band and two micros was a max effort last week and no way I’d be able to do that over several sets. I figured this was a safe tension to use and didn’t have to worry about the tiny bands shifting on me. And I should have the ability to hit a rep PR on the max set even with the fatigue of previous sets and maybe get more reps on the last set with bodyweight. It was definitely fine up until 9 reps I think each set before the fatigue kicked in. A little surprised I got just 16 reps but it was still a PR. Just absolutely wrecked when it comes to the bands coming off haha. Like how you feel after being on a trampoline or treadmill for a good bit and then back on the ground. Last bit of the night was superset again. Higher reps over two sets. Prone dumbbell only had slight pause so I figured I could do the extra reps ok with not having to hold them for “two-mississippi”. The triceps part was interesting as it indicated combination of dumbbell and band. I went with the empty dumbbell handle and a mini band. This seemed just fine that first set but the second run through it was a lot harder to finish things out. Really had to work for those last five reps each side there. Most of the stuff was put away so I was able to finish dinner (yes, I still had food to eat) and then stretched before icing my knees before bed.