Mobility Prep
Inverse Leg Curls
+120(ast)x8
+120(ast)x8
Inverse Leg Curls
+120(ast)x8
+120(ast)x8
Safety Squat Bar Box Squats (20” box) w/ bands (+60lbs bottom/+86lbs top)
No Bands
65x10
Added Bands
65x3
135x3
205x3
275x3
325x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
No Bands
65x10
Added Bands
65x3
135x3
205x3
275x3
325x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
375x3
Bent Over Rows
45x10
135x5
185x5
Added Straps
225x5
275x3
315x3
365x6
310x6
310x6
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
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
10x20’
12x60’
16x60’ in 21.62 seconds
20x60’ in 37.35 seconds
24x60’ in 51.60 seconds
Lying Leg Curls
90x6
135x4
185x12
185x12
185x12
90x6
135x4
185x12
185x12
185x12
Seated Calf Raises (3 seconds holds)/Band Tibialis Anterior Raises/Planks
70x15/(2)lb’sx15/bw 30 seconds
70x15/(2)lb’sx15/bw 30 seconds
70x15/(2)lb’sx15/bw 30 seconds
70x15/(2)lb’sx15/bw 30 seconds
Stretching
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment