Band Goodmornings/Hollow Holds sbx20/bwx30 seconds sbx20/bwx30 seconds sbx20/bwx30 seconds
Seated Band Hamstring Curls sbx40
Stretching
Comments: I was honestly not expecting things to be as heavy as they were for this workout with how the last one went with me missing a lift. But I follow the plan as best as I can. Mobility stuff was unchanged from what it has been. My father had dropped off some new knee braces that had a unique strap system so I figured I’d try them out. Wore them on both legs for the mobility stuff and felt pretty good. May need to adjust as needed as too tight seems to pinch stuff and cause discomfort but the design does seem to put the pressure in set spots as opposed to all over like a regular sleeve or brace. I felt like I could test them out with the squatting as well. Same setup as last week with the rack and bands. 10lbs more than last week with it being 4x3. I did plate jumps again and while that seemed to work after doing deadlifts last week, it might have not been the best thing to get used to it as I put on the hard belt for the top weight and I got a little lightheaded the first set. Not as much after that. Knees seemed to tolerate this stuff today. I think the thick knee sleeves I bought would be better for a pushing things though. Not a ton of volume for this workout but with the different planned things, it was going to be a good bit of tear down and build back up. As the next thing for the evening was deadlift with the suit. Plan was warm-up in doubles to 405lbs and then do singles like last week. Add suit at 405lbs. Do a warm up single with 475lbs and then pull three singles with 545lbs. Pull with authority. I honestly wasn’t expecting anymore suit work until show time. But each show and prep is different. I definitely rushed getting into the suit to get set for the 405lbs double as the pressure was so intense it felt like my head was going to burst getting to the bar. I got better situated I think after that. Still feeling some hamstring and lower back fatigue. Calves being sore also a thing haha. 545lbs feels heavy but seems to be moving well enough. I wanted it to be a speed pull but it doesn’t feel as speedy as I want it. Just thinking about 700lbs. I want that. I feel like my last pull was my best form wise. Not done with deadlifts. Suit off and back to doing raw pulls with the holds. These were going to be tough. 10lbs more than last time but less doubles. 2 seconds again. Knees achy on these but it felt less like my hamstrings were tensed. But these did feel tough. Worked up in 50lbs jumps in singles to get used to no suit. Again, I wasn’t expecting this heavy of work this close out. Most frequency with floor pulls in a suit and heaviest I've gone on paused pulls. After training, I realized that I had scraped some of the leg hairs off my thighs from the bar so know I'm keeping this close to my body haha. After that point it was the rep work stuff. TKE step ups. I realized that I accidentally did these to 8” last time instead of the 6” I had listed and did the first time I did these. I didn’t really notice the height change with the increased tension. Again, sticking to the same weights on the dumbbells. This is the highest band tension I have too at the moment. Left side fine but right side decided to be painful and suck that first set. Not sure what that was all about as nothing on the second set and it felt perfectly fine. The weights don’t really feel like anything in my hands for these but I take breaks between sides so that I can focus on the knee and legs and not worry about grip fatigue. The superset that I usually have of Nordic curls and hollow holds had a substitution. Band gms are a lot less stressful. Advised to 3x20 with plenty of reps in reserve. Aim to work the hamstrings and not the lower back. Well lower back quite a good bit of pump. My hamstrings have gotten quite used to the wringer they’ve been put in this training cycle. Hollow holds I did with no weight added as I figured this was a deloading and that way I could focus on the band gms which were going to be more exhausting. Last item was band leg curls. One set of max reps with plenty left in the tank. Advised to do between 25-50 reps with no pauses. So I figured I’d try my strongest band tension for this. Actually felt good. I stopped at 40 as I felt like I was slowing down a good bit and would hit a wall but I probably could’ve gutted out several more but figured best to leave fresh and plenty in the tank. Put stuff away and ate a big pot roast before stretching. Again, figured I’d try to get to bed a little earlier and just do the knee icing the next day.
Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds holds) Press Only 45x3 55x3 65x3 Both 75x8/lbx12 75x8/lbx12 75x8/lbx12
Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds eccentrics) bw+25x13 bwx16
Defranco Band Pull-aparts mbx15 mbx15
Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns abx25/25 abx25/25
Stretching
Comments: Not a great start to the day having my left side of my neck tense up on me the night before. Thought a chair I was sitting in was going to collapse/fall back on me and caught myself suddenly and now the left side is stiff. Always something. Put on Icy Hot that night for a few hours before bed and soft tissue and massage work on it to no real avail. But at least it didn’t bother me to sleep. Still felt terrible the next day so took some aleve midmorning to see if that helped things calm down. Not really, so I applied more Icy Hot before I started training today. Calves super tight and sore from Saturday still and I’ve been working them hard with soft tissue work. Hamstrings also like that but not as bad. Rubber band on the right forearm seems to help still. I did order come compression cuffs to test out but haven’t arrived yet. I wore a knee brace for this workout just to give more support and warmth to the knee. I was given the option to do circus dumbbell to start things off as form work if I felt like last Thursday was garbage or I felt I needed it. I didn’t feel like garbage last week and maybe not needed it but I felt like doing it to since I didn’t last week and I felt like I needed some form correction. Treat it like it is heavy and work on bracing. Have to accept that 205lbs isn’t going to be easy. This also maybe helped with the neck issues haha. Nothing like blunt trauma to the area to get it to feel right. Focus and doing each rep like I would for contest. Wrist is getting better as I initially didn’t have it on until the work set as I forgot about it. That and the knee brace were the only support gear. Left elbow didn’t feel off which was good. Inside for training in the garage. Seated axle pressing but not the same. So for this time, the plan to work up in doubles and singles to a working weight to do a speedy EMOM (fast on the press but 3-5ct negatives). Suggestion was to add band tension if possible. So I did. These were feeling quite good and easy today. For the EMOM, I decided I’d do longer negatives. So did 3ct to work up and then 5ct for these singles. Only time it was any issue was if I got out of position. Otherwise, the press was feeling darn near effortless even with the long eccentrics. For the set of 5, I decided to go back to the 3ct. Keep the same weight that way. Next up was back work with the modified pull-ups. Warm up as needed and do 3x10 with 22lbs of chains added. Chains add a bit of instability if I pull fast. Felt decent. I was trying to get a good stretch at the bottom to decompress and hopefully assist the neck stuff and get tightness out of my back. Next was the superset of the btn presses with band face pulls. Advised to do the heavier weight I did for my top set last week across all sets. Reps reduced accordingly. I was also told to warm-up for it in triples so I did that, going up 10lbs a set. Felt good. Not as much fatigue I think. Also increased the band tension so now back up to light band on the face pulls on this variation. I thought it might be too much with how it felt testing but it was perfect. Push ups after that with the kettelbells. Same thing with the 5 seconds eccentrics and stretch. Two sets this week, first with 25lbs (the chain and weight vest haha) and then no weight. Goal was to add some reps to last week and I was able to do that. For whatever reason, I feel like I can feel the chest and shoulders work more (stretch) without the weight added. Maybe the tactile sensation keeps me more tense and rigid whereas without I’m just moving my body and I don’t feel restricted. Who knows but working things in both weight and movement so all good. Defranco band pull-aparts feeling good. First set was super easy but the second set the fatigue in the little shoulder muscles was apparent. Last thing was triceps band stuff. Back to doing normal sets. I didn’t want to deal with several bands so I figured I’d give average band a shot. No wrist brace needed. Surprised myself with how I had plenty of reps in the tank on both sets with this amount of band tension. Cleaned things up in the garage and ate dinner before stretching.
Comments: I was exhausted this week from work and life. This is the first time I can remember where I’ve had to double up on allergy medications. Usually just one thing was a enough. I didn’t help matters missing a heavy deadlift earlier in the week. But feel like training is back under control as far as dealing with the tendonitis. But I was beat but it was that exhaustion where you feel like you have so much still to do. And that lead to me trying to do some more recovery stuff and then getting creative inspiration. Essentially up to 1am before I could fall asleep and at that point I decided I’d wake up when I wake up in the morning. Not force myself to a set schedule. I needed that kind of sleep. Training wasn’t too involved for today, similar to last week. I think a bit of it is just trying to show up to the contest in one piece and let my joints and tendons recover. I just remember the last training cycle this week had been a hard one on some things as the week before was to be too. But shit happens. The day where it counts is the one that matters. Not trying to be the best at practicing. So I got out to train at around 1:30PM I think. Drive out mostly good. Greeted by Teagan again when I got there. Just hear this little pitter patter out of the darkness as my eyes adjust and realize it’s the dog haha. Wasn’t really expecting to see anyone today but I thought that last week and I was proven wrong again. Maybe the schedules are just lining up. Some changes with the mobility prep stuff again. Didn’t feel like I needed knee brace this week. As has been the case, inverse curls to start off. I’ve been treating these more as a warm-up then a true exercise and I think part of that was when hamstring stuff like this was introduced, it was noted as to “warm up the hamstrings” or something to that effect and I kind of focused on that part of it. So what I should be doing is more sets to get ready. And I definitely needed it today as my hamstrings have been sore since Tuesday. These working up sets actually felt quite tough. Plan was to do 115lbs assistance for 3x8-12 with 2-3RIR. With how the other sets felt, it seemed lower end might be pushing it. But then they felt like they should and I did them for 3x12. After that was Spanish squats. Not terribly thrilled to do them as they were tough and rough last week. Especially this early in the workout haha. I wore knee sleeves on these to keep from having bruises on my legs from the strap. I was told to elevate my heel on these. Again, not certain if I’m doing these right. They felt easier this time and I think part of it was the heel elevation as it helps with my dorsiflexion issues, making less stressful on the knees. I had to swap out what I was using for elevate as the wood plank wasn’t heavy enough to stay put with the force being applied to sit back and keep shins vertical so I took a tumble. 100lbs plate worked better after that. Bent over rows were up next. Plan this week was to work up to 325lbs for a max rep set with 1-2RIR. In my head, I was thinking that I had done this weight or slightly more for like 10 reps many years ago. So I should be good for that many right? I feel like these felt better this time around. Last time my pecs were really sore from suit work for the first time in like 6 weeks and being able to do push-ups again. So not having that discomfort was good. I had wanted to get to 12 here but I called it at 10 reps. This is apparently a PR as I never got over 315lbs for 11 reps a decade ago. So it is kind of neat that I can beat PRs from years ago with minimal direct focus. Which is good for strongman and general fitness. But my upper limits need to improve. Drop down sets I was told to match reps (similar to the feet elevated pull-ups) but try and do pauses and holds. First set felt fairly tough but I also felt like I was not doing the same form at first. Second set felt way better. I felt like I was holding the reps for a longer time but video says I wasn’t. Still felt good. Then on to event specific stuff. Again, modified a bit from what was probably on the menu before my knees and body started to feel like ouchies. The focus for today for the sandbag and yoke medley became just the sandbags. I was instructed to three runs of it to work on transitions. I tried to make this as event specific as I could. The sandbag into yoke, the sandbags are the weights for the yoke and go in baskets. The baskets are compact and about 3’ off the ground so can’t just plop them down. Luckily, the gym has something I could use in the form of 55 gallon water barrels. I set them up on the sides of the empty yoke. So do the sandbag run and loads and then get under the yoke. Stand up with the yoke to stop the clock. Now the sandbags are a lot lighter than what I was training for with going down to open from Pro. 200lbs sandbags vs 250lbs sandbags. I decided to stick with the 250lbs sandbags for reasons. One, I like the challenge and if not for this show, perhaps training for a future show. Two, event order could be something that makes a 200lbs sandbag feel terrible so have that reserve strength. Three, gym only has a single 200lbs sandbag at the moment and it leaks so my other options would be a 175lbs bag or a 225lbs bag. There are two 250lbs bags (there were until I finished the session). Having three sets to test out I figured I’d try different knee sleeves on each set to see how they felt and figure out which to use at the show. I had the ones I bought for duck walk to protect my legs and never had any intention of using as knee sleeves, a pair from back when I was wrestling and had bursitis in my knees (tight but soft) and the new sleeves I got from Cerberus that were very stiff and tight. I needed to see if my knees held up, if I felt they’d be good for the yoke portion and if they affected my mobility and speed. I did a pick with one of the sandbags to warm-up. It felt easy so I figured all the rows were enough to warm up for this. So first set with the duck walk sleeves and that seemed good. I knew I could move in these from the previous training cycle. Second set was with the wrestling ones. I felt like I was moving faster but they weren’t staying up that well and my right knee was a little stiff on the yoke pick. The difference between those first two was negligible that it could just be me getting warmed up on the moving and breathing vs mobility improvements. I was also sloppy with some of it but that could be from having a fingernail tear slightly on the second sandbag causing me to bleed a bit. Last set was with the knee sleeves. I was figuring these would be too restrictive but I was wrong. Two second improvement on the first set. Knees a little sore but I guess that is going to be how it is on this event. Next was for the truck and boat pull. I don’t have that and been using the Exergenie. However, with the knees, the though was that doing a sled push would be less stress and I’d have more distance to work with to really push the time portion of it. The event is for 90 seconds to finish a 60’. So it is probably going to be heavy. I was advised to do a set of 60 seconds at RPE 7 and then a set of 90 second at RPE 10 and rest 5 minutes between them or so. Now I didn’t really want to do this. Not because I don’t want to embrace the suck, more that setup for this would be a pain to do and get it done in a timely fashion. I also had limited options for space. The outside concrete was in use for someone training for SC Nats and the asphalt was blocked by construction equipment. So I had 93’ or so of turf that I could push things on. And one way is quite a bit tougher than the other. So for the heavy set, I could run the risk of it not moving or being too light and running out of room. My hope was that someone would be there that I could have them let me push their vehicle. That ended up happening and I was able to do that for the 90 seconds. Uphill in the street so that it would get tougher the longer it went on. I told George that if it felt too light I’d let him know to hit the e-brake. I wasn’t sure what to expect as he mentioned his car was decently heavy (I don’t know cars). It was moving pretty easy after the initial break of the inertia and when it was at 30 seconds I told him to pump the brakes. That was when the fun began. I was so close to stopping before I heard him countdown to from 3 seconds left as it was so darn tough to move at that point. Only reason I won’t finish the course is because it was too heavy as I will work the whole damn time if needed. So after that was the lighter stuff. More lying leg curls. Regular style, 3x15. Told to do these as pump with 3-4RIR on these. I was expecting to use less weight after I saw last time but I went a good 45lbs lighter than I had planned with how sore my hamstrings felt doing these. I did start adding 5lbs a set as I felt I could do more reps but the soreness (especially in the tendons and in the left side) was making me stay a bit lighter. Last bit of training for the day the same trio from two weeks ago of seated calf raises with holds, tibs with bands and planks. I assumed I could use the same weights as last time for the everything. I was wrong. The goal was to leave 3RIR on the calf stuff (no problems with the bands and planks as easy stuff) but my calves were apparently not cooperating today. I guess the pushes took a lot of out them as this weight was darn near max effort to do when it was fairly comfortable last time after all my truck pull simulations. I cleaned up and headed home to stretch out because my dinner was going to need 90 minutes to cook and my groceries were getting delivered like an hour earlier than I had planned for them so rather be home to put those away then have them outside. Cleaned up and iced the knees before bed. Only now realizing that I’m less than 2 weeks out. I feel like if I had just another month that I’d be perfectly ready for this. But you do what you can with what you got.
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme 10x3 L 10x3 R 40x2 L 40x2 R 70x2 L 70x2 R 95x1 L 95x1 R 115x1 L 115x1 R Circus Bell 130x1 L 140x1 L 150x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 160x1 L 130x1 R 140x1 R 150x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R 160x1 R
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Holds (holds on last rep only) 165x2 L (5 seconds) 165x2 R (5 seconds) 185x2 L (15 seconds) 185x2 R (15 seconds)
Chaos Band Push-ups (5 seconds negatives, feet elevated 8”)/ Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 second holds) bwx15/bw+10x10 bwx13/bw+15x10 bwx12/bw+20x10
Paused Dumbbell Lateral Raises (2 second holds)/Paused Incline Bench Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes (2 second holds) 10’sx12/6’sx12 10’sx12/6’sx12
Band Pull-Aparts µbx20 (overhand) µbx20 (underhand)
Stretching
Comments: It has been a stressful week. Continuing from last week. Allergies bad and just a lot of work related stress. Extra efforts to keep knees and elbow tendons happy. Worked through lunch and breaks past few days (still taking time to actually eat) to get work done. Backfired a little on Wednesday as it started raining really hard after work so I couldn’t go for a walk (treadmill irritates my knees compared to actually walking). Had wanted to get that walk in to help with the soreness/stiffness from the lower body session Tuesday. Had to make due with soft tissue work and rest. I wanted this session to be better than the past two dumbbell sessions. It had to be. But I also need to realize that I fall into patterns and (I like patterns, I see patterns, so odds are high I’d fall into them right?) and I need to have some cues to remind myself it’s ok to break from them and sometimes it is required to for mental wellbeing and to actually find a workable solution. So I wrote down some phrases to use as reminders when I get to into my own head. Part of it being related to the deadlift miss on Tuesday but also just things that I need to take inventory on. I kind of already do that with lyrics from songs at times but the ease of recall in the moment may not be the quickest as there hundreds of songs in my head haha. The first is “strongman is stupid” which is something my friend Mike Jenkins used to say (or a variation of it like “stones are stupid”) and I’ve kind of held on to that. It can help center things, realizing the absurdity of what I’m doing. Things I didn’t think I’d be able to do. Kind of bring a levity to stuff. As for the deadlift, the one I got for that situation is “training is simply not the same as competing”. I know this. It took me until like early 2016 to get this idea even started and that was like 8yrs into this journey. I now keep separate PRs for training vs competition. The workout today started with circus dumbbell. Due to the knee stuff (which I’ve been feeling better about mentally and working on now that I know kind of what is going on), things were a bit opened up in case I couldn’t do what was planned. This brings up another, “I’m not a robot”. Lyric from a song by the same name. Expands a bit from there in that I don’t have to follow a rigid plan. I can adjust things. I don’t have to the max. I don’t have to do 5lbs increases. I can do smaller or bigger. Not going to run at maximum efficiency at all times. I like to stick to the plan as I assume that the first option is the best option. I was hoping I could do that with how the knee was responding and that I got my new knee sleeves a day early. I wanted to make up for the previous sessions. Which is another; “it’s an inanimate fucking object”. A line from a dark comedy called In Bruges. Essentially that it’s a concept. There is no “revenge” on a bad workout or missed opportunity. It’s just weight, an output. It doesn’t care not because it is callous but it lacks the capacity and we are assigning traits to it. Do or don’t, the only thing that is expending effort on the transaction is yourself. Anyways, the plan for today was to warm-up and hopefully be able to do 7 singles each side with between 140-160lbs (advised no more than this) and try to keep the rests to 2 minutes. That can be a little tough if changing weight as need to use a wrench to adjust weights but not a problem if sticking to the same weight. My hope here was that I’d feel ok and go up to 160lbs for these. I mean, I did an EMOM for more singles my first week so that would be no problem if I’m back to normal. But I knew to make sure it was good reps if I got to that point. Things didn’t feel great warming up. Similar to last week but not as bad I think. Joints in the shoulder and elbow ached. I started lighter and did some more reps to get ready since I didn’t do the motor recruitment session this week for dumbbell to give knees a rest after last week. It is in retrospect after I got things going my way with the heavier weights that I realized what was up. Previously, I’ve used the dumbbell handle for my warm ups and then gone to the circus dumbbell. I only did my solid dumbbells on the lighter days sometimes. Last week had been my first time really using them to warm up. Their size and density threw me off and then going from them to the rolling handle also was a mess. So what I need to do going forward is try to either stick to the rolling handle the whole way up to the circus bell or pause and control the dumbbells as I work up to get used to them and not freak out that they feel different or heavy. Following the same thing as last time working up to 115lbs or so with both arms and then going one than the other. Left side still doesn’t feel as powerful as it did. My “elbow” doesn’t feel as locked and loaded. Form has changed with the support gear and accommodating my wrist issues as well. I know the clean has been a bit tougher with the elbow sleeve trying to keep the arm straight. I apparently was still fighting it on the overhead portion and it didn’t click until 150lbs that I realized what I was doing. Once I got that figured out, the clean was the hardest part really as lockout felt like nothing. Almost like it was too easy and I wasn’t locked out enough. Thankfully no issues with the left shoulder feeling like it was going to dislocate like last week. Again, I think that was partly from fighting the sleeve and then realizing not to and not being prepared for it. I felt like my 6th single the lockout felt soft so I held it on the 7th and did a little showboating. Note to self that holding dumbbell overhead is tougher on the wrist injury still. On to the other side. I was a little more leery about this as more stress to the right knee. Seemed to be ok. I had a better understanding of where I needed to place the dumbbell to get stable for leg drive. Actually feeling quite good today so I ended up going for 160lbs here. Where was this last week? It was definitely tougher for this side but it was still good. Only had a hiccup on the 5th single as when I went for the initial drive my right knee twinged and I stopped short and the dumbbell went up and out. I didn’t drop it and settled and then got the rep. Held the 7th rep to even things out lol. After this was the clean and holds. But a bit different. What it has been was a single clean and then a hold for the set time. This time around, I was to do two cleans and then hold the weight. Plan written as 162lbs for 5 seconds and then 182lbs for 15 seconds. I decided to go up 3lbs on these. Since I used the same weight for the pressing for both sides, I just kept the weight the same and just did one side and then the other as opposed to doing all the sets with the left and then the right. It was definitely tougher on the right side. Left actually felt super light that first set and while heavy on the second, it felt like something I could possibly press. Not so much the right side but that position is awkward and doesn’t really indicate what I can possibly put overhead I’ve come to find. This is the first time since I’ve come back to circus dumbbell from the elbow fracture where I’ve felt like the contest weight isn’t so far out of reach. So after the dumbbell, it was time for axle push presses. Probably what it was originally like last two weeks but with the knee issue, that was likely changed to this which was axle pin presses. Standing and at forehead height. Problem with that is I’m too damn tall. Not able to do these standing in the rack as I’m almost as tall as my rack and it isn’t really stable increasing the height artificially that much. So I had to improvise. Another saying of “outwit, outlive, outlast, outsmart”. Initially had been just outlast as that seems to be my modus operandi with competing as I think only a few people are still even competing from when I started. But adding to it other things adds to just figuring things out and succeeding despite taking a more scenic route. So if that means putting my empty yoke on tables to get the job done, so be it. This worked out perfectly for me and added a little bit of stability to it as well. The rest of the workout was supersets and not needing much if any weight. I was thankful for that considering how late it already was and how dark outside it had gotten again. To be expected I guess as it gets closer to fall and with circus dumbbell workouts in general. It was easier to just do this in the garage rather than take stuff down outside. First pairing was push-ups and inverted ring rows. Push-ups were my choice again, do whatever to keep them in the 10-15 rep range with 2-3RIR and I stuck with the chaos bands again with the eccentrics and elevation. My hope was that I’d feel more conditioned to it this time and get more reps. The inverted ring rows were to be holds for seconds for sets of 10 reps with 2RIR. I was advised to add weight as needed. Again, hoping my conditioning for these has come back a little. Push ups started out good. 15 reps felt about what 10 reps felt last time. I did miscount on the second set and thought I did 2 reps less and had to go back and review the video. The switch between them was a little smoother I think. I probably could’ve done 20lbs for all three sets of the rows but wasn’t too sure how things would feel just yet. But I know for next time that my back and arms should be ready for it. Next up was dumbbells for the shoulders. Laterals and rear delts. Holds for these and just two sets for 12 reps compared to last time. I wanted to try and do the rear delt holds for 2 seconds this time around. I was successful with that but it was challenging. First set of the laterals was super easy but fatigue made the second set quite tough (just not as tough as the rear delt ones). Last item for the workout was band pull aparts. No triceps this time. Just two sets of 20 reps, overhand one set and underhand the other. Shoulders tight but didn’t feel like aching crap so that was good. Neck was tense from everything today though. I left stuff out for tomorrow as it was really really late and I needed to eat dinner, stretch and do some clean up of myself and my house for tomorrow.
Comments: Been doing what I can to get the knee to feel normal. Seems what I’m doing is helping as well as changes with training to help work around. Path is still forward. Allergies decided that I wasn’t to do much breathing or talking today so I had to take some Claritin after lunch. Mobility stuff was unchanged from what it has been. I just wore a knee brace on the right knee for that stuff. Deadlift with the suit. For all intents and purposes, this was probably the last heavy suit session before the show. Plan was warm-up in doubles to 405lbs and then do singles. Add suit at 405lbs. Knees a little achy but nothing that seemed to really effect things. 405lbs flew up and other than the pressure from the suit, I felt like I could do it for 50 reps. 465lbs also flew up. So I was thinking that maybe this was the day I pulled a PR. I was advised to do 3 working singles with last one being 10-15lbs left in the tank. Suggested being between 635lbs and 655lbs. I kept focusing on the upper end when I shouldn’t have. This wasn’t to be a max, it was to be tough single with the fatigue from the past two weeks. Power off the floor with the singles planned was good but I could tell that locking out that I was feeling it more and it was harder than I would’ve liked. I guess I thought I wasn’t going all in on it until the top single and I had another gear left in me. I was wrong. I was initially going to do 640lbs just to have something more than my best training pull but I took too long thinking about it and added 10lbs. Got set and pulled it but it stuck at the sticking point. I didn’t fight it too much there as I already knew I had made a mistake and trying to fight through it wasn’t going to be a good idea since I was to leave 10-15lbs in the tank. I should’ve just gone for 635lbs and not have a missed lift. This is the first time I’ve attempted and missed a lift from the ground with a suit. Never tried this much weight before. But legs have been feeling strong. I think I wanted to finally get that barrier hit in training. This is the third time I’ve missed 650lbs in my life with deadlift in training (first two times were no suit on deadlift bar). Nothing takes it out of you quite like a missed deadlift. I didn’t want that, especially with all the recent stress (and stress this training cycle with the unexpected). I know I have it in me when it counts as I’ve pulled over 650lbs three times in competition. Sure, I’m going to think about it and be annoyed. Had to tell myself not to try for 635lbs to “save it” as it wouldn’t do that at all and imagine if that was a missed lift after that? Also had to convince myself to keep doing the workout. Missing a deadlift (or any top single really) is a deep hole to climb out of. For the down set, the plan was controlled reps with 15% less than top single. Since I messed that up, I took what I should’ve done (635lbs) for the weight. Yep, I definitely took a good bit out of me attempting 650lbs as this didn’t feel easy. But I made the weight as controlled as I could. Then on to squats. Not how I was doing them. Advised to do them for 5x3 for RPE 7-8 with bands and above parallel to whatever felt ok for my knees. Ended up being 4’ off the ground for the bar height. So I figured I’d add a decent amount of bands so I didn’t have to go crazy with the bar weight as I can’t really trust these rack arms with staying level with real weight on them. I got some older knee sleeves that were smaller than the ones I’ve been using (as I never really intended to use the ones I have as knee sleeves but here we are) to help keep the knees happy. Took plate jumps as it took a bit to get things setup for this and I wanted to try and get through stuff quicker so as not to think on the deadlifts. 335lbs seemed to be perfect though I got off balance on the third rep of the first set as the rack arms dipped slightly (I went too far back) so I had to readjust and do the third rep and that was a lot tougher than it should’ve been. Other sets were better, though my camera didn’t capture some of them. Upper back gms followed that. Took a bit to setup since I had to take off the weight and lower the rack arms a setting. Same as before with the 2 minutes. I added 5lbs just to change it up a little. This does feel like a full body exercise with keeping balance as there is definitely a stretch in the hamstrings leaning forward with it and keeping from falling backwards when contracting. Then it was the step ups with the TKEs again. After doing more band TKEs on Saturday with a lot more tension, I figured I could use that tension at home for this. Stuck to the same weight. What I did change was I kept the flat sole shoes on so that it was similar to what I wear when I squat or deadlift and I could feel my heel driving a little better. I also kept on the knee sleeves mostly because I had some bruising behind my knees from the nylon rope that was holding me up for the Spanish squats. These seemed to go well. I don’t think I can go up anymore in the tension and these are my heaviest pair or dumbbells. Superset of band assisted Nordic curls with the hollow holds again and taking big breaks between the supersets. The lighter tension from last week again for the Nordic curls. Told to go all out. I worked hard to get those extra few reps on each set. Hamstrings were going to be done. Hollow holds were quite easy today. Band leg curls again with holds after that to finish up the night. Hamstrings were angry at me on these, especially the first set. But I pushed on to get more reps than last time. I put stuff away before eating a pot roast and stretching. It was late so I figured it made more sense to sleep than stay up to ice the knees and I’d just do it tomorrow morning.
Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds holds) 55x10/mmbx15 65x10/mmbx15 75x10/mmbx15
Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds eccentrics) bw+25x11 bwx15 bwx13
Defranco Band Pull-aparts mbx12 mbx12 mbx12
Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns lbx90(52/32)/90(58/32)
Stretching
Comments: Trying my best to get the tendonitis issue under control. Trying to get it at several angles. Tight right calf/ankle is limiting my dorsiflexion quite a good bit compared to my left one which could be part of the knee pain issues. So doing more soft tissue work and stretching. Trying to not force the stretching as that has not been great for this leg in the past. I think that is helping. For the upper arm stuff, I’ve found that having a rubber band on my forearm appears to be just enough pressure that it helps with that tension. Icing and soft tissue work. Lot of stress with things going on in life outside of training. Not to say training isn’t also stressful. No circus dumbbell to start this session. Probably to give the knees a rest. Focus for the other stuff. I wore a knee brace for this workout just to give more support and warmth to the knee. So up first was the seated axle pressing. Same as it has been the past two weeks with back support and 3 seconds eccentrics. Today I was told to work up in triples and then doubles to a top triple for the day (leaving 1RIR). I had 220lbs in my head. Hard to get it out of there. I figured I had it with doing 200x3x3 last week but 210x4 was a max effort that first week. So I ended up taking smaller jumps. I was going to start at a way to have it be 30lbs jumps for 215lbs but eventually just went with going for what I wanted to hit. Felt good. Shoulder aches present but they seem to be less and less at this point so I take that as a good sign that whatever I did to it is healing. Down sets with 15-17.5% less for 3x5. I went with in-between on these and that worked out pretty good. Last reps it starts getting tough. I wore the elbow sleeves for a bit more of it this time around. Next up was back work with the modified pull-ups. I put on the copper sleeves for the arms to keep things warm. I got to take better care of the tendons and stuff I guess. So for this week it was a bit different. I was told to warm up as needed and then do a max rep set with 22lbs added. Ok. But then what I was supposed to do was take off a set of chains and then do three sets of matching those same reps with pauses on each rep. Oof, that was going to be tough. These felt a little tougher today I got a decent amount of reps. Took time to rest to make sure I got all these paused reps in. Getting a good bit of work in the arms and back. Next was the usual superset of the btn presses with band face pulls. But not the usual. Difference this time around was that I was to increase the weight on the btn stuff each set and keep it 5-3 RIR. Hard to gauge with these due to fatigue and I try to do these back to back so I took some rest this time so I could push these a bit more. Learned that 10lbs plates are too big to safely press overhead inside with barbell haha. So 5lbs or smaller it is. Face pulls still lighter tension but more reps. These seem good. Push ups after that with the kettelbells. Same thing with the 5 seconds eccentrics and stretch. The change here was that for the first set, I was to do it with 25lbs added to my back. Didn’t start out so well. The angle of my body with being propped up by the kettelbells coupled with how powerful I push back up caused the weight to fall off my back after 2 reps. I tried to use a band and bungee cord but no dice. So I had to get creative. Ended up using my fractional plates, bungee cord and chains with carabiners to make weight vest for these haha. Seemed to work out well enough. Really feeling the pecs on these and just trying to get those shoulders to open up. Bands to finish out the evening. Defranco band pull-aparts feeling good. Little tension in the forearms on these with how the rotation works but ok. Last thing being the band pressdowns with one arm. 10 reps added. Still aiming for 2 sets. I decided to switch arms for the start as I figured the fatigue was about the same for both at this point. Might still be needing to do the left first but it worked out this time. Put away most of the stuff but left some stuff out for tomorrow. Ate dinner and then stretched. Iced the right knee and right elbow before bed.
Comments: So where to begin. I did summarize some of things as a foreword for the previous session. Friday I just wanted the day to be over and done with. Just had breakfast and lunch during the work day rather than the other two meals that go with it. I was thinking I was going to have to stop if I was seriously injured. And just didn’t have the motivation to be eating that much. I did not expect to be at the injury clinic for as long as I did and I felt bad that I was there when every other person there was visibly in more need than I was. I was not expecting getting out of there after 8PM so didn’t have dinner planned and nothing at home that would be quick and easy. And despite being given good news, I was still very stressed out and not sure what I was going to be doing. The script for 30 days of rehab wasn’t going to do anything and the at home exercises were more for someone recovering from serious surgery. With how things had been laid out, I wasn’t expecting to really train Saturday. Figured that it would be rest until Monday things. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have ordered 40 meatballs in gochujang sauce and an assortment of Thai food as that is not the meal of someone who expects to be doing anything remotely active the following day. Workout was to be mostly a fluff and pump workout all things considered. I slept in until I felt ready to move around. Finished editing video for the previous session finally and waited until most of the food from the night before was out of my system. So left home about half past noon. Workout wasn’t a ton of stuff and little involved things besides bodyweight. Drive out mostly good. Greeted by Teagan again when I got there haha. Wasn’t really expecting to see anyone today. Mobility prep modified a little. Wore my soft knee brace on the right leg. Took it off when it wasn’t needed. So first real exercise being the inverse curls. 2x10 with same weight as last week. I decided to try a warm-up set to see if that made things feel better on the work sets. It did. I ended up using 5lbs less assistance on these. Maybe because easier plate math and maybe because I felt like I gave up on the last workout. So from there on to zercher gms with the ssb. No set tempos or anything but advised to do these with control and control the eccentrics. Aim being to do 3x10 with 3-5 RIR. No hard belt on these. Making sure I don’t hyperextend the lockouts. Was feeling like my hands and arms were getting sweaty so I used hand sanitizer and then dried off my arms and hands before applying chalk. No issues with the knee on these thankfully. Left shoulder was a little achy but it is what it is I guess. From there on to single leg lying leg curls. These were a lot tougher than I thought they would be. I guess this is one of those “apes together strong” as doing these with one leg for more than a few reps I felt uncoordinated. Plan was to do higher reps and increase weight each set, leaving 2RIR each set or so. These felt awkward. So from there on to some odd object stuff. Sandbag rows. Now with dropping from Pro to Open, the sandbag weights at the show are only 200lbs. And looking beyond this show, sandbag stuff is honestly light with only one going over 310lbs that is something even on the possible horizon. The plan for today was pauses on the holds for 2ct with a hard set of 5-8 and then two sets of 8-10. It was going to depend on how things were going. I know I could do 275lbs for this but I wanted to get to the 306lbs dense bag. I elected to do these short ways so that it was like a bear hug. My thinking was so that I could simulate kind of picking up a fingal finger since I’ve only been able to do one kind of session with it due to complications with my meat and bone gundam. Stuff felt pretty good warming up. I wore the knee brace since sometimes my knees act up on this. With how 275lbs felt, I felt like I had a shot at 306lbs for some reps. I do forget how much these holds sap repping ability as it was a struggle. I got six reps but last 1 or 2 probably wouldn’t count as having held for a 2ct. Well pushed things for the down sets, trying to get those sets of 10. This was the last of the heavy stuff. Rest of the workout was lighter fare but by no means easy. So first thing for the knees was band TKEs with pauses. Cue was to drive with the heel into the ground. Used a strong band. I feel like these went well. After that was Spanish squats. These have never felt comfortable for me. I’m actually not sure if I’m doing these right or not. They look easy for other people when demonstrated. I was told to use a nylon strap rather than a band so I could really sit back on these. I was told to do these with a controlled tempo but this was as fast as I felt I could go. My knees were super achy but it wasn’t like the feeling I get where it feels like the knee wants to explode like a canister of Pillsbury biscuits. I found these incredibly difficult in trying to stay upright in the torso and sit back. I feel I got better at getting depth as I went. Got bruising on the backs of the legs from the nylon rope from leaning into it so hard. After that was a superset of Copenhagen lifts and lateral band walks. For the copenhagen’s I was advised to adjust position so my knee was on the support bench to lessen strain and to do these for 3-5ct holds. Like an idiot, I did the 5ct holds and holy crap were these tough and miserable. I kind of shuffled around in disgust to do the other side and then laid on the ground a little bit before getting up to do the lateral band walks. Those in comparison were super easy. I didn’t remember what band tension I used for these last time as I think they were part of a mobility prep thing previously. But mini band was a bit too light I think if trying to have the exercises be comparable. It was like a nice walk for those. But I made it through these eventually. Last bit of the session was super set of calves and ant tib. Back to inverted tempo like I’d been doing before for most of the calf work. Same as last time in that dropping weight each set to stay in the 10-15 rep range. Three sets for the these and two for the band tib stuff. Definitely noticing my right leg calf is super tight right now. So I stuck with the same weight I did last time with these as 10 reps was difficult with 70lbs. Plan was 10lbs drop as that seemed good last time and then just a 5lbs for the last set as the weight is light enough for me to recover. So getting two extra reps was good on that first set. I wasn’t thinking I’d get 15 reps with the 10lbs drop but I did. Maybe I don’t need to drop down so much next time? As it was later in the day, I figured it made more sense to drive home after cleaning up so that I could start cooking something in the oven while I stretched out. I also had leftovers from Thai food to eat (I ordered too much).
I’m late in putting up this training session as I wasn’t sure where I was going with things. Was this sport just not for me? I love it but it doesn’t seem to love me back most of the time. Do I only got enough in the tank to do one competition a year before I need to start over again. Talked with a friend about how I was feeling and while meaning well, the suggestion that I can still do this but not as hard is like suggesting I can still eat but I’m not allowed to swallow anything. It’s not enjoyable. But I guess that is a me problem. What to do after strength when it has been a big part of the identity? I was feeling depressed and didn’t feel like eating on Friday and went to the injury clinic after work. It ended up taking almost 2.5hrs to get seen and have stuff reviewed (got there at 5:45PM, left at 8:05PM). So good news it seems that I don’t have anything that is torn and nothing wrong with my bones. But the diagnosis is that I have tendonitis in my knees and elbows. How do I get golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow in the same elbow and never play those sports lol? I’m not entirely sure how to adjust things as I don’t feel like I’m overworking stuff. I’m doing the work. I also have new respect for others that are dealing with this as it quite distracting and painful. I think the only time I’ve had tendonitis issues was my biceps back when I was prepping for the Amateur Arnold for 2019 and it felt so bad (not biceps but in my shoulders) that I couldn’t do a lot of pressing exercises like I used to. Knowing that isn’t something that requires surgery and they feel I can still compete in October is encouraging. But it still hard to take that I’m overdoing it when I feel I’m never doing enough. I did finally decide to drop down from the pro level option at the upcoming show to the open level to hopefully lessen the burden some.
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme 40x1 L 40x1 R 70x1 L 70x1 R 95x1 L 95x1 R 115x1 L 115x1 R Circus Bell 130x1 L 142x1 L 152x1 L 162x2 L 142x2 L 142x2 L 142x2 L 130x1 R 142x1 R 152x2 R 132x2 R 132x2 R 132x2 R
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Holds 172x10 seconds L 182x10 seconds L 162x10 seconds R 172x10 seconds R
Comments: As you can tell from how it abruptly ends, it wasn’t a good workout for me. I wanted it to be. I was looking forward to it as a chance to correct the errors from last week with the circus dumbbell. I was worried about my right knee with how it had been feeling since after Tuesday’s workout. I had iced it several times the day before and did soft tissue work on the entire leg. So the plan for today with circus dumbbell was to work up to a tough double each side and then drop down to do cluster doubles (rest 15-20 seconds between reps). Also going to try a different approach to how I was doing sides to work up seeing as there is a discrepancy between them. I was also advised to do full gear for this so I was hoping I’d get some time to see how the elbow sleeve and knee sleeves together would work. I also wanted to try and do warm-ups with actual dumbbells until I got above weight of dumbbells I had and needed to do plateloaded. Save the elbow sleeve for the actual circus bell. I realized picking up the 40lbs dumbbell for the first warm up rep that this wasn’t the day for PRs. All my joints ached and it felt like twice the weight. With how things felt with warming up, the empty circus bell could be the weight I ended up doing for the double. I didn’t want that. It wasn’t a pain thing, just felt weak and low energy. So I decided that I’d start filming lifts at the circus dumbbell and if a single didn’t feel comfortable, I was going to go for the double at that weight, rather than leave things up to chance. Thankfully, I was able to keep things together and get up to the minimum weight I was hoping for here with 162lbs. 2lbs was because I didn’t want to bother with the fractional plates as they were on the plateloaded dumbbell. It was a tough double. The clean to the shoulder felt harder than I was expecting with these. Possibly the resistance of the elbow sleeve contributed to that. I do feel that I’m starting to remember placement on the shoulder and traps for the left side again. Took off 20lbs for the cluster reps. First rep was not that great but I feel I got my shit together after that. Last rep of the last set went up the fastest but it went up almost too fast for me and it felt like my left shoulder was about to dislocate and put it down quickly after that. So that wasn’t something I liked to see or feel. Back down to the empty bell and worked back up on the right side. Knee wasn’t too thrilled with this. I can put less weight on it from my left side. The positioning I need on this side due to mobility and whatnot makes this not comfortable at all. With how last week went, I figured that unless I was feeling good, 150ish was what would be a safer bet so that was the plan here. Got them and then did the cluster reps. Sweat in my hands started to finally effect me at this point in the workout as had been good up until this point. Not the best reps here. So next up was clean and holds with the dumbbell. Kind of looking forward to these again, kind of not. I feel like these overloads are necessary to get used to heavier weights again with how long I’ve been away from circus dumbbell stuff and the expectations. But that was before the knee issues I was having. So last time these came up, it was 2 sets at 90% of proposed max (with how I was feeling) but this time it was to be up to 115% of the double I did for each side as long as it wasn’t more than 5% over my current max. I elected to do 10lbs jumps. These are tough and I could really feel the pressure and strain on the muscles and joints. Didn’t miss the clean like I had on that first week haha. Finished up the left side and on to the right side. It was at this time I was realizing my head wasn’t with me. I was having to fight the intrusive negative thoughts and worries I was having to get down to the dumbbell to pick it up and heft it to my shoulder. I was combating this fear that my right knee would just give out on me or explode once it got to my shoulder. That didn’t happen but it was draining on me. I think it was a combination of just realizing that I wasn’t at the pro level strength for this upcoming show and the knee pain and worry that it was something serious and I could be out from competing and needing surgery. Worst case scenario. Depression really does creep up on you unexpectedly like that as I was having a pretty darn good day. Tried to push on. Axle push pressing with bands was next. Plan was to do 5x3 with 70% and add 10-15% on top of that with bands. It was getting so dark outside. Trying to not think that I was going to injure myself or that I was injured. No shoulder issues (I was a bit concerned about the shoulder on the left side with that last rep on the dumbbell press) so that was good. But I did notice I was subconsciously taking a shorter dip on the leg drive than I usually do on these as I was worried about my right knee just “exploding”. There was hesitancy unracking the weight as I got heavier. I could feel my knee “shifting” and “clicking” but not really any pain. Then with 195lbs on the bar (30lbs under the goal weight), I felt some pain and I just had enough and called it there. I hate bailing on a workout. Yes, I could’ve probably done the rest of it as not knee related but I just felt defeated and depressed. My knees hurt, my elbows hurt. It has been about 8 months since I thought that what I was doing was pointless. Trying to keep from spiraling. Too late at night to go to OIP injury clinic so I decided I’d eat dinner and go to bed and go after my work the next day. I messaged Drew to let him know I didn’t finish the workout, what I was doing and how I was feeling.
Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curls (3 seconds holds) abx53
Stretching
Comments: Today didn’t start off well. Considering how yesterday for work ended with me inadvertently being sidelined for half a day. Woke up with a head cold and it wasn’t until after lunch time that the pressure in my head went away. I had taken Dayquil fairly early in the day and it didn’t feel like it was doing much other than scratchy throat stuff. I can’t tell if I was feeling better or if the meds were finally working or combination of both. Same mobility stuff as last few weeks. I was noticing I was breathing a little heavier doing things like going up and downstairs earlier in the day and some of the mobility stuff felt a bit tougher cardiovascular wise. Joints were stiff but not as achy as they could be. Again, not sure if feeling better or if meds masking stuff. Workout started off with ssb squats. Back to 5x3 with accentuated negatives and a belt this time. So a little more weight than last two weeks of squatting. I’m very anxious when it comes to squatting and it has been that way since I had the knee scare ealier this year with my left knee giving out on me. Knees ache and squats worry me. Maybe the two times I week squatting is beating my knees up too much. It is hard to say though as I used to squat regularly and then it became pretty much all box squats with front squats regular style. Then just squats to boxes. And it has been that for years. So pretty much every time I squat, I feel like I’m spinning the chamber on a gun with an unknown number of bullets. Left knee has been about the same for weeks and seems ok. Just aches. Right knee is the one that is worrying me. It was the one that initially been hurting back at the beginning of the year when I just quit training for a bit due to the pain and wearing a knee brace to do some exercises. Trying to do stuff but also not ignore stuff. Right knee has just been feeling a little off since I did those sissy squats. I guess right where the quadriceps attaches at the knee on the inside of the thigh. MCL area. Belt seems to make the squatting feel more stable. My right knee was feeling discomfort warming up and I felt like I should stop if it got worse. But as seems to be the case, I do more weight and more sets and it goes away. I don’t know if that is good or not. In either case, after getting over the fear of my knees exploding, squats seemed to go well. On to deadlifts after that. Real deadlifts with the pauses. No more harness right now. 5x2 for these with the holds right off the floor. 30lbs increase over what I did with the harness. I knew this was going to be tough. Warmed up how I felt would be the best option to get ready and to minimize fatigue. Squats should have gotten me fairly warm but I knew not always the case as the last time I did combo of squats and harness pulls it didn’t work out that well. Big jumps at the start to get used to things and then smaller jumps with singles. These felt heavy but I was able to keep things going. Hamstrings just felt these hard with those break and hold. Probably closer to 1 second holds on a few of these. Next up was suit work again. But not the usual thing. Most of my suit training with deadlift has been alternating weekly with suit on and no suit. Only times I can think of doing different was when I was doing my own training for hummer tire deadlift and when prepping for failed attempt at USS Nats 2019. I figure in this case the change was to help with having the shortened time frame to work with due to the elbow and wrist injury 6 weeks ago. Plan here was to work up in doubles to a top set of 3-6 reps with 12-16” height. Idea being to work the range where the suit gives out. Usually when I do block pulls with the suit, I make it tight but with how this was to be done, I kept them the same tightness I use for my training from the floor stuff. So I get stuff but it isn’t the most. Reviewing video and talking with Drew, determined that 16” would be the height to work. Big plate jumps until I put on the suit. It was feeling pretty tight today. I was anxious about the top weight as I felt that doing less that 635lbs was going to not be good enough. I know that is silly. First rep always feels tough on block pulls and then other reps are better. I was trying to not just clang and bang these and get it to feel like I’m working the sticking point. 3 was the bare minimum I was willing to accept for the day. I’ve done 635lbs to this height raw for a double in the past. It was an absolute max double and I was wrecked for weeks. So one more with reps in the tank was the minimum. Straps did better with chalk so didn’t feel like I was losing anything this week. Second rep was best rep. Third rep was tougher than I’d like to go for another so shut it down there. Weight is just over 90% of what I want to pull at the show on the deadlift assuming all goes well. Unlike overhead stuff at the moment, I seem to be pretty good at gauging things when it comes to deadlifts and squats right now as far as leaving reps in the tank and knowing when to walk away. Lot of compound heavy stuff today. Superset of band assisted Nordic curls with the hollow holds again and taking big breaks between the supersets. Told to lower the band tension so that I was in the 8-12 reps range on the Nordics. I guessed right with downgrading to a monster mini and micro band. As is always the case, first set feels really rough and slow but I tend to do a good bit of reps. Really feel the hamstrings and tendons working hard on these with less assistance. Really fighting on these. Surprised I was able to match the reps on the first set on the second set. Eventually the fatigue caught up to me with the last set. Used the 10lbs kettlebells to add weight on the hollow holds. Didn’t feel it as much as with the 10lbs rubber plate but could just be that I got used to it. Last item of the session was the paused leg curls with bands. Still 3 seconds holds but now I was advised one set of 30-50 reps. I figured it made more sense to use one band for both legs rather than use less band tension bands as they are thin and cut into my legs if doing a long set. I chose average band for these which in retrospect, I probably could’ve used the strong band. But they felt tough by 15 reps and I just kept going and going. I lost count like 4 times. I was so close to 50 reps in my head despite that and went until I got at least 50 reps. It could’ve been between 47 and 54 reps (ended up being 53 upon review) for all I cared. I figured my tendons would be tight the next day from that. I left stuff out again as it was kind of late and I wanted to eat and get to sleep. I got impatient waiting for the meatloaf to cook that I ordered some wraps and soup to supplement (not that great, live and learn). My right knee was feeling tender once I got to stretching so I’m a bit wary of that. Iced them both before bed. Going to keep an eye on things and do what I can to see if it just sore and recovery work will help or if this needs something more. Hopefully not.
Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds holds) 45x12/mmbx12 45x12/mmbx12 45x12/mmbx12
Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds eccentrics) bwx15 bwx13 bwx12
Defranco Band Pull-aparts mbx12 mbx12 mbx12
Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns lbx80(52/28)/80(52/28)
Stretching
Comments: I was hoping this week wouldn’t be a repeat of last week with work. I had my stuff together. And then I had a brain fart and through stupidity got locked out of my computer trying to login after my lunch break. IT never called me back after they put in a ticket so pretty much a half day. I was finally able to log in to the system after my shift was over. Ugh, so much for being on top of things. On to the training. Left side shoulder and neck aching and tense. Tried doing foam rolling the day before as part of my recovery work. Still undecided on if I’m doing the pro or open portion of the show. I’m leaning more towards open with just seeing how things have been recovering. I will definitely have my decision by the end of the week and possibly sooner. Main things are yoke and the circus dumbbell stuff. Speaking the later, circus dumbbell to start things off. Plan here was to keep the form work going. And maybe get the stupid out that I had last week with the “real weight” session. This was singles each side in the same set for EMOM. Left side feeling crisper but hard to say if that is just because it is light or if I’m actually getting back into the swing of things. Right side had some slight hiccups as far as rushed reps and knee aches on that side. But that was minimal. I did these with control back down to the shoulder rather than dropping it to get a little extra work in and doing the second clean from a hang. It’s light enough at this point. Inside for training in the garage. Seated axle pressing again. Back support and 3 second negatives starting from the top. I had to make up for last week’s blunder on these. Plan for the day was work up in triples to 200lbs for 3x3 and then take 20lbs off for 2RIR max rep set. I was testing things out as far as my wrist. I know it is improving each session. Wore the elbow sleeves for the working sets. Still working on breaking them in and seeing how they feel. I may not necessarily use them for circus dumbbell but I may want to test them out on stuff like axle or log if I do a competition with that so might as well get experience under my belt. With the achy shoulder on the left side, I’m not sure if I’m being cautious or if just doing the controlled eccentrics and then not trying to be reckless with reversing the motion makes these tough. Last rep of each of those sets felt pretty tough though don’t really look it on video. Rep set wasn’t exactly 20lbs less. I felt it was easier to just put on my 25’s than use a bunch of smaller change plates and my 25’s are 1lbs heavier. It felt a little unbalanced unracking the weight and I’m not sure why. But it felt easy. On the fifth rep, the left wrist wrap came undone during the rep. Couldn’t really stop and I didn’t want to at this point. I got two more reps but I probably should’ve stopped at 6 reps to truly leave 2RIR as 7 was pushing it. Next up was back work with the modified pull-ups. Advised to do 4x8 with added weight to my waist. With the setup and what I had available, I figured using my 11lbs chains was easier to setup. 10lbs had been the suggested. I did a set of 8 with 11lbs because I figured like last week the later reps would fatigue me but they didn’t. Too light. So doubled the weight for the rest of the sets. Felt pretty darn easy until the last set. That felt like I was doing work. After that was a super set of the btn presses with band face pulls. Same as last week. This was tough last week and I was a little anxious because last week my left shoulder had felt stiff and sore and it felt like I was pressing uneven with that side lagging. I didn’t feel like that this week. Shoulder girdle was worked hard and good blood flow pump. I like that feeling even if it is exhausting to get to that point. Push up variation after that and again, same as last week. I liked the kettlebell elevated push-ups. Same idea as last time leaving 2-3RIR on these sets. Managed to pick up some extra reps on each set. Continuing to work on the upper body mobility with the scapulae movement, upper back and shoulders as well as opening up the shoulders and pecs. Bands to finish out the evening. Defranco band pull-aparts feeling good. I felt less fatigued this time and didn’t need nearly as long of a break between sets. The triceps finisher had an extra 10 reps added to the total. But I’m getting better and even with the added reps, I did it in less sets than last week. Definitely noticing the left side is better vs endurance than my right side again. Strength output is still lacking though. Finished up with an eye round roast before stretching. As I was going to be doing squats the next evening, I left out that squat rack with anchor weights.
Bent Over Rows 45x10 135x5 185x5 Added Straps 225x5 275x3 315x3 365x6 310x6 310x6
Sandbag/Yoke Medleys Yoke Only Casual Pace 200x25’ 200x25’ Normal 300x25’ Yoke and Sandbags (picks) 300x25’/170x2 400x25’/200x2 500x25’/225x2 600x25’/250x2 Yoke Only 700x50’ in 11.71 seconds Full Medley 250x25’/250x25’/700x50’ in 32.45 seconds 250x25’/250x25’/700x50’ in 31.50 seconds
Truck Pulls (Exer-Genie) 10x20’ 12x60’ 16x60’ in 21.62 seconds 20x60’ in 37.35 seconds 24x60’ in 51.60 seconds
Comments: Recalling the neighborhood bulletin’s inspirational quote that is up right now. Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today. Kind of that situation right now for me. Previous workout was rough and my neck was tense but I felt like in a good way. Like a necessary. I was tempted to take ibuprofen to help sleep (and deal with the joint aches) but I didn’t. Ran ragged at work. I took no breaks all day (still ate food). So pretty much wasn’t until I finished work that I did anything I was supposed to do like clean up the weights I left outside and work on getting training from the day before sorted out. But that ended being too much to finish up with the remaining time so that got moved to this morning. So my yesterday took up that today and part of tomorrow. I think I tend to use tomorrow as a blank check sometimes (ok, maybe all the time) and not latch on to things as the only certainty is uncertainty. No anchor. Looking to the next contest assuming that it will be the next thing. Introspection. Or maybe narcissism. Lots of thoughts. Maybe I take a moment and sort them out. So late day out to train. Like 2hrs behind usual. But I guess that is ok as I kind of train by myself and my friends are rarely there in the gym these days. Also that kind of issue with going later means less traffic and faster commute but also means getting there later and getting home later. Commute is faster with less traffic but it is still later in the day. So I was actually quite surprised that there were people there when I arrived. People I hadn’t seen in a long time and new people. Jodi’s dog Teagan greeted me first though haha. She was happy to see me. That made my week as it had been a very stressful one. This might actually be the first time that a dog has come up to see me excitedly and not initially wary and then warming up. It was a nice feeling. Former WSM competitor Bryan Benzel was there training stuff. I think that brings up the WSM competitors I’ve met or had interactions with in person count to 9 (though 4 were before they went to that level initial contact). Only one that felt “different” from being around a normal person would be Brian Shaw but only because he is same height as me so I didn’t have the usual looking down I end up having to do for most everyone I meet. But they are just people. Maybe I get to where they’ve been. On to training. Mobility stuff my knees were achy as shit. Left more so than right warming up. Started off with the inverse curls. Less weight to assist and lower reps again. I do like these now. But I think I need to not treat them as just a warm-up and do a little more to “prep” for these working sets as the second set (or any following sets) feel better than the first as stuff gets warm. Then on to squats. Thankfully a break from the heavy stuff. Kind of. No top set stuff with straight weight but doing “speed” work against bands. Advised to 68% of 1rm with about 15% band tension added for 5x3. Suggested was 550-560lbs to use as 1rm. The app that calculates stuff has my projected as 544lbs but that is with me not going to failure on these rep sets so that would be a soft 1rm I think. But who knows. In either case, using those numbers would have the straight weight be between 370lbs and 380lbs so I split the difference for the planned working sets as 375lbs. 15% for the band tension would be between 81.5lbs and 84lbs. Light bands came out to 86lbs so close enough. Things didn’t start out great. I mean the movement was fine but my knees were just killing me. I was worried that I’d have to stop and call it. But once I got to 325lbs, that went away. Not sure if it was because I had added a belt at that point and it made me tense more or something or if just finally got enough blood to the knees. These seemed ok. I wouldn’t call them speed squats but it was good work and form was good and I didn’t plop down. I try to keep control on “speed” work rather than just go as fast as possible. So after that was a new one. Not to me but to this training and probably since like 2014. Bent over rows. Sure, done a lot of chest supported ones and pendlay rows but not these for some time. There was some “gym drama” happening after I finished up my box squats and was getting ready for rows. I still have trouble discerning things in social interactions as initially I was thinking it was a “jokey” situation but I was able to tell before I got involved with my friends argument that it was “serious” and backed away. I don’t get it. Things didn’t get physical at least. I kept an eye on things in case it did. Not going to let that shit happen. So there was an awkwardness and tension until one of the parties left and lingered afterwards for a good bit. Back to the workout. Advised to use some body English and work back for rowing and some deadlift assistance. Plan being 6-10 reps leaving 1-2RIR after working up and then drop of weight and match the reps for two sets after that. Took a little bit to get used to these again. Right shoulder and pec were a little off. I worked the pecs hard on Thursday (and Monday) and I have some slight bruising still from the deadlift suit. I think this was one of those things where the tension mode and trying to block that out and just fixation on a number as I ended up going for 365lbs and it was very tough. It would be pushing it saying I had 1RIR and probably could’ve gone lighter. Made sure I dropped the weight down and didn’t just take off 50lbs to make it nice for the down sets. First set didn’t feel any lighter than the previous set unracking the weight. Second set felt better. I feel I had better control on these sets. Then it was time for the event work. Or I should say the event specific work. So first up was yoke with sandbags. Working them together for the medley at the show. So plan here was warm up to 700lbs on the yoke for three runs of 50’ with the last two runs including the sandbag carry portion of the medley. I took a bit of break between rows and this because someone was using the lanes for arm-over-arm stuff and were using the yoke as part of it to brace the foot board. This gave me time to fix up the busted sandbags with the supplies I ordered as I was going to need them for the medley work. The open show the sandbags are only 200lbs but for the pro show they are 250lbs. The gym only has one 200lbs sandbag and it is leaking out the top but not in a way that I can fix like I did the 250lbers and the 225lbs bag. So I elected for the 250lbs bags for that top set. I think I was more nervous for the sandbags then I was the yoke. Initially, my right knee was aching on yoke warming up. So much so that I forgot I was to go faster with 300lbs then the casual pace so I did it a second time. I’d do a run on the yoke and then go over and pick and stand up with a sandbag for two reps. Gradually adding waist support. I was worried that my breathing would mess up and I’d get screwed up with the sandbags going into the yoke. I think that I had this issue with doing a medley in the past for a plat plus show and getting lightheaded from wearing a belt on the carries for a wheelbarrow that absolutely need my belt to do. 700lbs was steady but not fast. 3 seconds off my best for this weight. But I have to remember that this is fatigue talking and I’m coming back from some things. I am not at my 100% best with yoke at the moment. I have to remember that I had a near breakdown with 500lbs about 7 months ago and now I’m moving with 700lbs again. I think another part of it was realizing I had to do this three more times but with sandbags beforehand. It was time for putting it all together. Sandbags at 25’ away. Belt not a problem. Actually seemed to help me keep it high once I stood up which will be helpful as I have to put these in baskets on the side of the yoke at the show and they aren’t just on the ground but elevated a little. Not super fast on my feet here but I didn’t forget everything about moving and coming back to get stuff. Again, I think saving stuff for the yoke as it will be tough after this. I didn’t feel like I could accelerate for the yoke but I finished it. Just under 33 seconds. So the second set I was to try and go faster. I felt like I did and I was by about a second. Reviewing the video, where I picked up time was with the sandbag portion as my yoke was half a second slower compared to the set before (and that one was half a second slower than my solo run before). So I was about 1.5 seconds faster on the sandbag stuff compared to the first set. Makes sense in that the warming up was just picks as opposed to moving. But this really did bring home how hard this event will be, regardless of level. A positive I noticed was I wasn’t stressing over my biceps like I have been known to do in the past. Considering I did a ton of circus dumbbell cleans and then super heavy rows and then sandbag and no complaints and no hesitations is great. Then on to the next event, truck pull simulations. I had been checking around the gym and surrounding area for a place to setup for truck pull with anchor points. I initially didn’t think I could use the exer-genie inside for these with what I had available (I’d need two anchor points. One for the rope and one for the truck-in-a-can). Two possible spots looked good outside, though the one anchor point was covered in spotted lanternflies so best to leave that be. Then I did figure out a way to set it up inside. Less I have to move stuff with this, the better. It is a pain in the ass getting this thing setup with how temperamental it is. But once it is setup, it is the easiest thing to reset and adjust. I don’t need a truck or hundreds to thousands of pounds of weight to get in a good effort. But literally the tiniest amount of resistance on the lead rope will halt stuff in its tracks. However with the big rope not moving this time, I figured it wouldn’t be as big an issue with it getting tangled. But even the turf is enough drag to amplify though the thing. Though it does give me an idea potentially to have to fight isometric for a few and then have that released and finish the course. It took a bit of trial and error to figure things out before I was ready for the working sets. Advised to do 3 sets of increasing difficult of RPE 7,8,9. The settings on this thing don’t make sense so literally one click one way makes a big difference. I’m just lucky to be in that range where I have options still. I say this as for today, I was able to adjust by “4lbs” increments but the next jump after my top set is “8lbs” more and I can barely budge that. But where I’m at is fine as it lets me hit the ranges I’ll see with a vehicle pull other than too heavy to even move haha. Wearing the rock climbing shoes for the first time in a long time. This isn’t a perfect setup but it does the job. I have no idea exactly where this pull will be but it could end up being on the boardwalk. First run felt really easy and is about how fast I was able to pull a semi truck with trailer in 2016. Second pull felt decently tough. Third pull was super tough. I just kept going. Definitely realizing that there was a reason for the seated calf work now haha. It was later than I’d thought it would be at this point so with the gut busting stuff essentially done for the day, I took my post workout shake now. Hopefully I could eat before 10PM for dinner haha. More lying leg curls. Regular style, 3x12. I definitely went heavier than I should’ve. I felt good warming up. But hamstrings are a lot of fast twitch and what felt powerful for 6 reps or so was dragging ass for the rest of it after all the other stuff today. I need to be more careful with that and remember for the millionth time that exercise order matters with fatigue. It was good work but not great work. Last bit of training for the day was the usual suspects of seated calf raises and tib work with the added third wheel of planks. Only two rounds this time and just holds on the calf stuff (not the full tempo). I think I was motivated on the calf stuff a bit more after feeling them in action on the truck pull stuff. I think it is stuff like that where the “ah ha” lightbulb comes on and I realize it isn’t just busy work. Planks were super easy. I was feeling all creaky and such getting down to the floor and up off the floor. Right knee still hasn’t completely forgiven me for the sissy squats two weeks ago. Put stuff away and stretched out before leaving to go home. I had to double take at the clock as I thought it was only 5:30PM and not closing in on 6:30PM. Cleaned up and ate dinner and then iced knees and elbows before bed.
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme 40x1 L 40x1 R 70x1 L 70x1 R 95x1 L 95x1 R 120x1 L 120x1 R Circus Bell 130x1 L 130x1 R 140x1 L 140x1 R 150x1 L 150x1 R 160x1 L 160x1 R 170x0 L 170x0 L 170x0 L 170x0 R 160x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 L 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R 150x1 R
Chaos Band Push-ups (5 seconds negatives, feet elevated 8”)/ Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 second holds) bwx10/bwx10 bwx10/bwx10 bwx10/bwx10
Paused Dumbbell Lateral Raises (2 second holds)/Paused Incline Bench Dumbbell Rear Delt Flyes (1 second holds) 10’sx10/6’sx10 10’sx10/6’sx10 10’sx10/6’sx10
Band Pull-Aparts/Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns µbx25 (overhand) – lb+µbx25/25 µbx25 (underhand) – lb+µbx25/25
Stretching
Comments: Some good and bad with this one. All on me. Work has been busy and stressful this week and last. Realizing now it may be a time management issue and I’ll have to redouble my efforts. I don’t know if there has been a night I’ve gone to bed before 12:30 this week. Most sessions of training this week, I’ve left stuff out and had to clean it up later with how late it was getting and just how worn I was feeling. I had to do a good bit of that during my lunch break to put plates away and then walk the squat rack outside. Noticed my lower back was quite stiff and sore. In a good way. Not pain but just that it was worked hard. I realized that some stuff might be tougher than usual for this session. Upper body sessions don’t have prescribed mobility stuff as of late so right into training. Circus dumbbell. This is where I messed up things and I’ll go over that in a bit. Anyways, the plan for today was to work up to 80-85% for 10x1 EMOM each side. Real weight finally as noted. I wasn’t sure how this would go. I was hopeful but anxious. Hopeful that I didn’t miss a step (like deadlift) but anxious that I had. Not a great combination of feelings when coming back from an injury. Warming up was odd. At first, stuff felt like crap. Not great. Could be I wasn’t terribly warmed up. Knees felt stiff, wasn’t getting that solid leg drive due to hesitancy. But then it did start feeling like it was clicking like usual. Each single after 120lbs was feeling pretty darn good. I was noticing that my lockout was feeling quite crisp for my right side. 150lbs felt great both arms. 160lbs did too. If I wasn’t in the frame of mind I was, I’d probably have paid more mind to my wrist on the left side that lockout was slightly tougher. Right side it felt better than 150lbs had that first week of doing these seriously. So I thought yes, I still got it and 170lbs was going to 85% for me for the left side (I was going to do 160lbs for the right to be safe). I got set and went for it. 170lbs felt a little unsteady on my shoulders and I pressed it out and away. That was odd. I figured maybe the amount of time it took to change the weights and then getting setup had cooled me off too much. Again, this should’ve been an indicator this was way too much right now for the planned training. So I gave it another shot after resetting things and it was better but I couldn’t lock out. I knew then I had really screwed this up. I did try it one more time but with the elbow sleeve in a Hail Mary shot to see if that helped. It did not. If anything, it made it worse in regards to pressing out instead of up. I did try on the right side more to see if that felt like anything and to “even out” the sides as far as stress. Made a halfhearted attempt as it felt glued to my shoulder with how I have to position the dumbbell on that side. So new plan was to adjust and do 160lbs the left side and 150lbs the right side. But those attempts with 170lbs took too much out of me and 160lbs was iffy as my wrist wrap came undone and my wrist couldn’t stabilize things well enough. I could’ve toughed it out to get a down call in comp but that wasn’t the goal for this session so dropped down another 10lbs to 150lbs for the EMOM work. I did get through that with both sides. Looking at the videos of it, it probably would’ve been better to go even lower. Left side the shoulder stability isn’t as strong as it was and my lockout power in wrist and triceps is lacking and inconsistent compared to before. Shoulder stuff is weird and recent (again, not sure where it came from) but with the injuries I had end of July to the arm, the wrist and elbow stuff are to be expected. Right side the lockout is on point. Problem is that how I end up racking the dumbbell on that side doesn’t seem practical for things at heavier weights as it seems to be purely lower body drive and then lockout. So why the rush? Reflecting on that and it is something I continue to need work on. I’ve been doing this sport since 2008 and I feel like I’m running out of tomorrows to defer. I want to be at the top level. I’ve been trying to not think on the injury and fight through it and act like it didn’t happen and I’m just stumbled a little. My left side was worn and beat up after the first week back as I pushed things to get it back to where it was. I have bad self-control. Friends and family think I have good self-control because I don’t indulge in certain things. I just have no interest in those things and I can be very impatient with the things I want. Feeling pressure of the competition coming up in a month. Promoters advertising with me on some of the promotional material for the pro show. Feel like I can’t back out now and the dumbbell weight is 225lbs and I’m so far away. Even the open weight of 205lbs is so far away right now. I tend to recognize patterns and I need help from outside to nudge me a little to take a step back and recognize my own patterns and try to stop from repeating the same mistakes differently. The same thing happened with the axle strict pressing earlier in the week. I need to be better. The return of the heavier dumbbell work with the bigger bell did seem to help my shoulders get back on track and not feel so off. So that helped I think. Back to training. So after the dumbbell, it was time for axle push presses. Plan was to work up in triples (pause in the dip on the first rep) to about 70% for 3x5. I had asked about belt or no and it was my choice with the indication that I was to try and stay more upright (belt tends to let me lean back) to help with dumbbell. Knowing intent can be very helpful in how you approach an exercise rather than just doing it to do it. So no belt or other support stuff other than wrist wraps to keep the wrist stable. I wasn’t sure how these would go honestly. I had a feeling I’d be ok with the strict presses but never know if the shoulders or other stuff will act up. The wrist did ache on the heavier weights but it didn't feel hampered at lockout like the dumbbell did on some reps. Maybe the fact total weight in hand was less? The stability perhaps also helped. It has been a bit since I did these with anything really. Much like the ssb squats for 5’s beltless, the extra reps were tough. I seem to be good with doubles and triples but after that, things get rough. I initially missed the first go at the fifth rep on that first set with 240lbs. I calmed down and let things settle and then went for it again to get it. That kind of made me realize I had to take these seriously. I couldn’t afford to miss reps. It is a good thing I’ve learned to these walk outs and let reps settle rather than solely rely on rebound reps and fast unracks. Or this would’ve gone poorly. So for the other two sets, I did the first four reps rebound and then did the fifth rep as a settle and go rep. No more missed reps. The rest of the workout was supersets and not needing much if any weight. I was thankful for that considering how late it already was and how dark outside it had gotten. First pairing was push-ups and inverted ring rows. Push-ups were my choice, do whatever to keep them in the 10-15 rep range with 2-3RIR. The inverted ring rows were to be holds for seconds for sets of 10 reps with 2RIR. I figured on that that bodyweight would be enough as I know how much holds on rowing exercises lowers my weight I can move. Especially since not doing this movement for many weeks. The push-ups I had to think on a little as I wanted to do something that would require stuff to stabilize and not need a lot of setup time so I could superset. I really wanted to do the chaos band push-ups but I was worried that my wrist would be a problem. Wrapped it up and got to work. I had thought I’d do more reps than I did that first set but it is fine. Just coming back to these after not doing them for months. Kind of worked out honestly as I matched 10 reps for each set. Teardown and setup between sets and exercises was about 1-2 minutes so not bad. Next up was dumbbells for the shoulders. Laterals and rear delts. Both for lower reps than usual but with pauses. 2 seconds on the laterals and 1-2 on the rear delts. I really have a weakness with the rear delts as I could barely hold the 6lbs (lightest dumbbells I have) for the timeframe. So needing those, I couldn’t really go heavier than 10lbs for the laterals. Which was fine as these had a good control and shoulder work with the longer holds so it was actually perfect. My hope next time is to get 2 seconds for the rear delts with the dumbbells. Last item for the workout was band pull aparts and triceps. Just two sets here for 25 reps. No changes to the triceps (left still lagging obviously). Advised to use lightest band on the pull aparts and do overhand one set and underhand the next. Slight holds as well. No repping out. Control here. Again, not sure what I did to the left shoulder in the last month but there is definitely some rotary cuff issue. No pain, just it was feeling tight and fatiguing quicker on these pull aparts. Got to realize I’ve only been cleared to use my left arm for two weeks at this point. Super late. I just left the weights outside that were anchoring the squat rack but covered them with towels. Deal with that tomorrow. Ate a big pot roast before stretching and calling it a night.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Northeast Regionals in Monaca, PA on 6/1/2024. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
