Mobility Prep
Inverse Leg Curls
+220(ast)x5
+185(ast)x4
+150(ast)x3
+115(ast)x12
+115(ast)x12
+115(ast)x12
Inverse Leg Curls
+220(ast)x5
+185(ast)x4
+150(ast)x3
+115(ast)x12
+115(ast)x12
+115(ast)x12
Heel Elevated Spanish Squats (nylon strap)
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
bwx10
Bent Over Rows
45x10
95x5
145x5
195x5
Added Straps
235x3
285x3
325x10
Pauses (1ct)
275x10
275x10
45x10
95x5
145x5
195x5
Added Straps
235x3
285x3
325x10
Pauses (1ct)
275x10
275x10
Sandbag Carries and Loads (35”)
250x25’/250x25’ in 17.84 seconds
250x25’/250x25’ in 17.58 seconds
250x25’/250x25’ in 15.84 seconds
250x25’/250x25’ in 17.84 seconds
250x25’/250x25’ in 17.58 seconds
250x25’/250x25’ in 15.84 seconds
Sled Pushes (turf)
365x93’5” in 60 seconds
365x93’5” in 60 seconds
Vehicle Pushes (uphill, e-brake applied 30 seconds in)
carx113’6” in 90.00 seconds
carx113’6” in 90.00 seconds
Lying Leg Curls
45x5
90x12
95x12
100x12
45x5
90x12
95x12
100x12
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: 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.
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.
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