Mobility Prep
Safety Squat Bar Box Squats (20” box)
65x10
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x3
425x3
475x3
475x3
445x3
Safety Squat Bar Box Squats (20” box)
65x10
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x3
425x3
475x3
475x3
445x3
Concentric Safety Squat Bar Goodmornings (from deadlift height)
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x8
265x8
265x8
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x8
265x8
265x8
Yoke Holds
210x5 seconds
300x5 seconds
390x5 seconds
480x5 seconds
570x10 seconds
660x10 seconds
750x15 seconds
210x5 seconds
300x5 seconds
390x5 seconds
480x5 seconds
570x10 seconds
660x10 seconds
750x15 seconds
Belt Squat Marches
90x10
180x10
270x10
360x10
450x30
450x30
450x30
90x10
180x10
270x10
360x10
450x30
450x30
450x30
Seated Safety Squat Bar Upper Back Goodmornings (3 seconds holds)
335x90 seconds
335x90 seconds
Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
90x12(6/6)
95x12(6/6)
100x12(6/6)
45x6(3/3)
90x12(6/6)
95x12(6/6)
100x12(6/6)
Quad Fallbacks (17” target, 3 seconds eccentrics)/Seated Calf Raises (3 seconds holds)/Kettlebell Tibialis Anterior Raises
bwx8/70x10/26.5’sx15
bwx8/75x10/35’sx15
bwx8/80x10/35’sx15
bwx8/70x10/26.5’sx15
bwx8/75x10/35’sx15
bwx8/80x10/35’sx15
Stretching
Comments: Day put me through the wringer. I woke up feeling beat and not too sure why. If anything, it was the coolest it has been this week but I guess really humid. Perhaps just carrying extra stress I’m not addressing. The double-edged sword that is competition. It focuses the mind but at what cost? I want to do the thing so bad but I fear not doing enough and falling short. Already annoyed I needed to drop out of show that I had planned on not doing after I had to pull out of 4 shows between 2019 to 2021. I think another part of it is the uncertainty of things with COVID-19 cases surging again. This contest is in a populated area with many out of state people that frequent as well as there currently being 130 people signed up. I try to not think on it as there is not solution that is within my control. But enough of that for now. Wore the wrist brace so that I could drive with both hands this week. Again, traffic holding things up. But at least no construction like last week. At least going there. I saw on the other side that they were doing the same thing they did last week on the route home so I knew that I’d have a longer drive home than usual. Got set for warm-ups. I got them in the right order this time at least. But these wore me out. Like, I was working up a sweat doing them and breathing a bit heavy. Not exactly something I want when I was essentially doing the same as last week but everything heavier. So starting things off with the high box squats with the ssb. I was able to at least use a power rack with safeties. No one there at the moment was really tall enough to spot me if I needed it anyways. So plan for the day was work up in triples to 470lbs and do two triples and then take off 30lbs and do another triple. I kind of told myself I was just going to do 5lbs more so that way I was just dealing with 25’s and 45’s on this. My legs felt heavy and sore. Like I was just now feeling DOMS in them from Tuesday’s training. Like the walking and soft tissue work did nothing. And my knees were aching like crazy. I felt like I had to really control my descent to the box to stay in my groove. If I had been told to do last week’s training with work up to set of 5lbs, I’d probably have stopped at 425lbs as that was how beat I was feeling on these. I was also sweating like crazy. I ended up needing to hype myself up a good bit for these heavy triples. They felt tough but I still feel I left 2RIR on them and more than that on the last one. I can take being worn out but I was a little concerned with how achy my knees were feeling. I know to not get freaked out when stuff is aching or hurting but need to keep an eye on it. So up next was gms again. Concentric style from deadlift height. I was told this time I could wear a belt as long as it was loose enough for two fingers to fit. I was also advised to not shoot the knees forward to initiate the lift. So stiff-legged. I had done the knees forward stuff to mimic my deadlift so kind of two styles here. Left hamstring felt like it wanted to cramp up while warming up but no problems on the actual working sets. Good work here. Wasn’t that hard of a weight but with how I was feeling today, it was taking a bit out of me so I was breathing a bit heavy. Next was some event work specificity. Yoke holds. I knew these were coming eventually. Advised to work up in sets of 5 seconds to my work sets. I had kind of expected these to be heavier considering things (where I need to be in 8 weeks regardless of if I stay pro class or drop to SHW). But these were about right considering my current strength and familiarity with yoke at this point. I mean, it has been over a year since I’ve had anything over 650lbs on my back. Plan had been two sets of 10 seconds and then 15 seconds with 100lbs jumps from 550lbs to 750lbs but I decided to just do 90lbs all the way up as it was easier plate math. Just have to worry about 45lbs plates. Knees didn’t really ache like they did on the box squats but my quads were sore and feeling like it was heavy weight to pick up that 750lbs weight. I’ve done over 1000lbs on this exercise in the past haha. I count slow so I definitely was like 2 seconds or more over the hold time. Weird thing was this feeling of an “itch” across the upper back after I put the weight down on the longer holds. I guess just glad no issues considering how my lower back and deep core muscles had been feeling as of last week (especially Thursday). This lead back to belt squat marches. Holds to get used to weight and then the hard moving stuff with the marches. Plan was work up to 450lbs for three sets of 30 steps. Advised to do short step sets to work up. I decided to 10 steps. My right knee did not enjoy this. I think I’ve mentioned that the right knee has felt a little “off” since the week I injured my arm with coming off the box a bit sloppy. There has been some discomfort but strength is there and it wasn’t like a constant thing. This time it was and felt similar to how the knee felt at the beginning of the year but thankfully not as bad (I know this as I was able to pick up 750lbs with not needing max psyche up compared to needing it to do 500lbs then). There was more discomfort just stepping up to the platform to do the marches then the actual marches and that first set with just 90lbs felt more painful than any of the following sets. So that was weird. I was already leery about the belt squat with how the belt was pulling since I had a good bit of bruising from it last week and I didn’t want to have those deep muscles not be ready and recovered as I’d hate to have another session dominated by pain like Thursday last week. But despite these things, these felt better than last week. Then it was back to the ssb for more work on that. The upper back gms again. I was told to do just one set of 90 seconds with the holds and to use a weight that made this suck. Not sure if I achieved that. I did end up using 335lbs so 180lbs more than last time. Thing is, I think my thoracic erectors may be pretty strong for how well I do on stones and other loads. Like, the weight compressing my lower spine may be the limiting factor as I could move this pretty well. Not sure if these will continue or not. I was told by Drew he’d see if I got to suck level or not. Next bit was the lying leg curls with the 2 up and 1 down again. I was just drenched in sweat at this point and probably getting weighed down by my shirt and shorts. I figured that after I got through a set of these last time that I’d be better able to control the negative so I went up to the weight I had intended on using last time for these. And it was easier than 75lbs had felt last week. I was told to do with 2RIR on these and I kind of felt that this may not be enough weight for that so I went up 5lbs each set. Last set I think I finally got things to fully click with getting the two up to be fast and get thing shifted to the one leg without having it drop too far down. Though my right leg had some trouble with that on the last set. Last bit was a triset again. I was not looking forward to doing the quad fallbacks as they are twice in the same week the past two weeks. I think also wasn’t sure how the right knee would like them with how it was feeling. These felt the worst they have ever felt. I don’t mean that as far as my knees. Knees are good. My ankles are what hate me. I really had to rest pause to get through that first set. Took almost 2.5 minutes to get through it. Just so much aching and discomfort. It did feel better for the second set but that felt like how my first set usually feels on these. Third set I was able to get through without having to stop to readjust. My ankles really hate me now (especially the right one). The other partners in this were seated calf raises and tib raises again. Seated calf raises were to be with 2RIR and doing 3 seconds contractions. I thought that 5lbs more than last time would be good enough. Wrong. Close but I could do better. I forget that I can get better at these newer exercises sometimes haha. Went up 5lbs each set. Last set was definitely pushing the limits on these for me. I may need to adjust what I do for the tib raises as I had to go up to the 16kgs kettlebells (12kgs were too light this week but did them for the first set). ROM isn’t great. Might just need to do some tinkering. I took videos of the different machines at the gym to give Drew a catalog of what I have at my disposal. But really, who knows what will happen in the near future with stuff like COVID-19 and just my aching and falling apart body. Put stuff away and stretched before being on a longer than usual drive home and cleaned up before icing my knees.
Comments: Day put me through the wringer. I woke up feeling beat and not too sure why. If anything, it was the coolest it has been this week but I guess really humid. Perhaps just carrying extra stress I’m not addressing. The double-edged sword that is competition. It focuses the mind but at what cost? I want to do the thing so bad but I fear not doing enough and falling short. Already annoyed I needed to drop out of show that I had planned on not doing after I had to pull out of 4 shows between 2019 to 2021. I think another part of it is the uncertainty of things with COVID-19 cases surging again. This contest is in a populated area with many out of state people that frequent as well as there currently being 130 people signed up. I try to not think on it as there is not solution that is within my control. But enough of that for now. Wore the wrist brace so that I could drive with both hands this week. Again, traffic holding things up. But at least no construction like last week. At least going there. I saw on the other side that they were doing the same thing they did last week on the route home so I knew that I’d have a longer drive home than usual. Got set for warm-ups. I got them in the right order this time at least. But these wore me out. Like, I was working up a sweat doing them and breathing a bit heavy. Not exactly something I want when I was essentially doing the same as last week but everything heavier. So starting things off with the high box squats with the ssb. I was able to at least use a power rack with safeties. No one there at the moment was really tall enough to spot me if I needed it anyways. So plan for the day was work up in triples to 470lbs and do two triples and then take off 30lbs and do another triple. I kind of told myself I was just going to do 5lbs more so that way I was just dealing with 25’s and 45’s on this. My legs felt heavy and sore. Like I was just now feeling DOMS in them from Tuesday’s training. Like the walking and soft tissue work did nothing. And my knees were aching like crazy. I felt like I had to really control my descent to the box to stay in my groove. If I had been told to do last week’s training with work up to set of 5lbs, I’d probably have stopped at 425lbs as that was how beat I was feeling on these. I was also sweating like crazy. I ended up needing to hype myself up a good bit for these heavy triples. They felt tough but I still feel I left 2RIR on them and more than that on the last one. I can take being worn out but I was a little concerned with how achy my knees were feeling. I know to not get freaked out when stuff is aching or hurting but need to keep an eye on it. So up next was gms again. Concentric style from deadlift height. I was told this time I could wear a belt as long as it was loose enough for two fingers to fit. I was also advised to not shoot the knees forward to initiate the lift. So stiff-legged. I had done the knees forward stuff to mimic my deadlift so kind of two styles here. Left hamstring felt like it wanted to cramp up while warming up but no problems on the actual working sets. Good work here. Wasn’t that hard of a weight but with how I was feeling today, it was taking a bit out of me so I was breathing a bit heavy. Next was some event work specificity. Yoke holds. I knew these were coming eventually. Advised to work up in sets of 5 seconds to my work sets. I had kind of expected these to be heavier considering things (where I need to be in 8 weeks regardless of if I stay pro class or drop to SHW). But these were about right considering my current strength and familiarity with yoke at this point. I mean, it has been over a year since I’ve had anything over 650lbs on my back. Plan had been two sets of 10 seconds and then 15 seconds with 100lbs jumps from 550lbs to 750lbs but I decided to just do 90lbs all the way up as it was easier plate math. Just have to worry about 45lbs plates. Knees didn’t really ache like they did on the box squats but my quads were sore and feeling like it was heavy weight to pick up that 750lbs weight. I’ve done over 1000lbs on this exercise in the past haha. I count slow so I definitely was like 2 seconds or more over the hold time. Weird thing was this feeling of an “itch” across the upper back after I put the weight down on the longer holds. I guess just glad no issues considering how my lower back and deep core muscles had been feeling as of last week (especially Thursday). This lead back to belt squat marches. Holds to get used to weight and then the hard moving stuff with the marches. Plan was work up to 450lbs for three sets of 30 steps. Advised to do short step sets to work up. I decided to 10 steps. My right knee did not enjoy this. I think I’ve mentioned that the right knee has felt a little “off” since the week I injured my arm with coming off the box a bit sloppy. There has been some discomfort but strength is there and it wasn’t like a constant thing. This time it was and felt similar to how the knee felt at the beginning of the year but thankfully not as bad (I know this as I was able to pick up 750lbs with not needing max psyche up compared to needing it to do 500lbs then). There was more discomfort just stepping up to the platform to do the marches then the actual marches and that first set with just 90lbs felt more painful than any of the following sets. So that was weird. I was already leery about the belt squat with how the belt was pulling since I had a good bit of bruising from it last week and I didn’t want to have those deep muscles not be ready and recovered as I’d hate to have another session dominated by pain like Thursday last week. But despite these things, these felt better than last week. Then it was back to the ssb for more work on that. The upper back gms again. I was told to do just one set of 90 seconds with the holds and to use a weight that made this suck. Not sure if I achieved that. I did end up using 335lbs so 180lbs more than last time. Thing is, I think my thoracic erectors may be pretty strong for how well I do on stones and other loads. Like, the weight compressing my lower spine may be the limiting factor as I could move this pretty well. Not sure if these will continue or not. I was told by Drew he’d see if I got to suck level or not. Next bit was the lying leg curls with the 2 up and 1 down again. I was just drenched in sweat at this point and probably getting weighed down by my shirt and shorts. I figured that after I got through a set of these last time that I’d be better able to control the negative so I went up to the weight I had intended on using last time for these. And it was easier than 75lbs had felt last week. I was told to do with 2RIR on these and I kind of felt that this may not be enough weight for that so I went up 5lbs each set. Last set I think I finally got things to fully click with getting the two up to be fast and get thing shifted to the one leg without having it drop too far down. Though my right leg had some trouble with that on the last set. Last bit was a triset again. I was not looking forward to doing the quad fallbacks as they are twice in the same week the past two weeks. I think also wasn’t sure how the right knee would like them with how it was feeling. These felt the worst they have ever felt. I don’t mean that as far as my knees. Knees are good. My ankles are what hate me. I really had to rest pause to get through that first set. Took almost 2.5 minutes to get through it. Just so much aching and discomfort. It did feel better for the second set but that felt like how my first set usually feels on these. Third set I was able to get through without having to stop to readjust. My ankles really hate me now (especially the right one). The other partners in this were seated calf raises and tib raises again. Seated calf raises were to be with 2RIR and doing 3 seconds contractions. I thought that 5lbs more than last time would be good enough. Wrong. Close but I could do better. I forget that I can get better at these newer exercises sometimes haha. Went up 5lbs each set. Last set was definitely pushing the limits on these for me. I may need to adjust what I do for the tib raises as I had to go up to the 16kgs kettlebells (12kgs were too light this week but did them for the first set). ROM isn’t great. Might just need to do some tinkering. I took videos of the different machines at the gym to give Drew a catalog of what I have at my disposal. But really, who knows what will happen in the near future with stuff like COVID-19 and just my aching and falling apart body. Put stuff away and stretched before being on a longer than usual drive home and cleaned up before icing my knees.
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