September 7, 2021 – Week 8, Day 2

Mobility Prep
 
Suited Deadlifts (straps)
No suit
135x2
225x2
315x2
405x2
Added Suit
475x2
540x2
605x2
523x3
523x3

Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 second eccentrics, beltless)
65x3
115x3
165x3
205x2
245x2
295x2
343x5
343x5
343x5

Seated Safety Squat Bar Upper Back Goodmornings (3 seconds holds)
355x120 seconds

Step Ups w/ Band TKEs (6”, ab)
bwx5/5
40’sx10/10
70’sx15/15
70’sx15/15
70’sx15/15

Band Assisted Nordic Curls/Hollow Holds
lbx17 PR+1 rep/bw+10x30 seconds
lbx16/bw+10x30 seconds
lbx14/bw+10x30 seconds

Paused Seated Band Hamstring Curl (3 seconds holds)
ab’sx17
ab’sx15

Sled Drag Work
325x5 minutes 

Stretching 

Comments: Nervous but looking forward to training. Well not all the training. Mostly just deadlift. See where I was. See if the work from the past five weeks working around these hurdles and stumbles kept me on track. Left side of neck and shoulder were tight all day and it was annoying to the point of distracting. Kind of hoping that heavy deadlifts would cure it haha. Mobility stuff was good and then it was on to training. Deadlift with the suit. Plan being work up to a 2-4RM with 1RIR. Work up in doubles and add stuff as I went. Working up stuff controlling the negatives. No set weight given and more open ended with the top set due to the not doing real deadlifting. More to give me some leeway if I went too light rather than doing another set. The suggestions were to use straps early or even from the start, put on belt 3-4 pulls out from top set and suit 2 pulls out from top set. My initial thinking was if things felt good, go for 585lbs for that top set. I really hoped things were good as I had been putting in the work with the workaround exercises. I’ve had that not work out in the past where just those exercises improved and not the deadlift. Things weren’t feeling so bad. 475lbs felt really good so I figured why not, push things. Go for reps at +600lbs. I was sweating pretty good at this point. Got set and went for it. Feels heavy but it moves well. Second rep seemed smoother than first. Which means I had good control of the suit. I felt the strap in my left hand loosen slightly so I stopped there as I felt going for a third rep would get me out of position which I don’t want just coming back to this. Double is fine here. My thinking from seeing how things went last cycle and then with contest is that I need to be around 655lbs in training (have it feel comfortable) for 700lbs to be a sure thing at the show. Next time I will need to see about chalking up my straps for pulling. It could be just that I’m not used to holding anything in front of my body in that style with more than 45lbs in a month and a half. Down sets with 523lbs (I split the difference between 529lbs and 514lbs). Those seemed good too. Bar was pulling down my copper knee sleeves. Definitely seeing that work I did did maintain and help with getting stuff to keep building but the deadlift stresses things that can’t really be stressed in this way. Like the chest and middle back. This was a first for me though, repping more than 590lbs from the floor. 590lbs with no suit for a double on a deadlift bar from 2015 or 2016 is my best, followed by 585lbs on deadlift bar for 3 in 2011 and then for 2 on a regular bar in 2018. Then on to squats. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to these as it was going to be tough and deadlifts can take a good bit out of me. And these squats were tough enough fresh. Still beltess. I didn’t think much of them as I did 5x3 with this weight last week and it wasn’t that bad. But that was fresh and not with heavy deadlifting beforehand. I felt that doing my usual warm-ups might be too much after the pulls. Just needed to get warm. Schema was now 3x5. Didn’t sound that bad. But lord was it. My knees were cranky so that was a fight there. Making sure I was smooth and not having stuff feel terrible. Left one sometimes felt like it wanted to do that thing it does sometimes where it gives. Right was super achy at times. No real rhyme or reason. But those extra two reps in the set just seemed to be too much for me. My core bracing just sucked and the bar wanted to fold me in half. I guess I’ve gotten used to shorter sets. Just didn’t expect that drastic a decrease in some more reps. I just kind of stood there for a bit contemplating if I was going to get these next two sets. So tough was this that I actually went and got my rack safeties just in case. I didn’t miss a rep or bail but those three sets were some of the toughest squats I’ve done. Upper back gms followed that. I wasn’t expecting these to show up but here they were. I had noticed on the ssb squats that the left side felt higher. Again, not sure if in my head or if my left shoulder/neck was tight and doing that. Stuff to the same weight but now with 2 minutes of work. Same weight but not the exact same bar so it maybe felt a little different. Really trying to work on that contraction with the back muscles on these. Somewhat new exercise followed. Definitely for knee health. I hope I did these right. I’ve done these as part of warm-up with less band tension and a higher step. So I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Lower box and a lot more tension and a good bit of weight added. TKE part of it can be a little weird once that starts to fatigue because the tension and the weight don’t feel that much but once that gets fatigued, you really got to work. More or less took break between the sides to give my hands a rest holding those dumbbells. Superset of band assisted Nordic curls with the hollow holds again and taking big breaks between the supersets. I had been under the impression that this would change after last week but nope. But that is ok. So again trying to give everything I got into these. Managed to increase a rep on each set from last time so I know I’ve been pushing things. I think my choice of shirt wasn’t good as it was softer fabric (usually wear this for suited pulls) and the band was slipping down on so I had to adjust it a few times. Hollow holds definitely get an added stress with holding weight. Only 10lbs but it felt the stretch in the upper abdominals and the serratus. I like that. Band leg curls again with holds after that. I decided to increase the band tension substantially as I figured that if I did the light bands again, I’d get 25 on both sets probably and not go to the limit to do so. Average bands got a kick and I knew it would be hard to get the reps with them. I wasn’t sure I’d get 15 reps for that second set as I had gotten less than I hoped that first set. I took a bit longer rest between them to recuperate. Last bit of training was sled drags for time. 5 minutes again. I decided to go heavier and do the sled plus 6 plates added. It was after 9PM at this point. This weight was substantial but I kept on moving with it. I ended up doing half of it backwards and then the other half forwards. It was quite late so I just left stuff as is in the garage so I could eat my roast and then stretch. Iced knees before bed.