Wednesday, October 20, 2021

October 19, 2021 – Week 2, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Seated Band Hamstring Curls (3-3-0-0 tempo)
lb’sx20
lb’sx20
lb’sx20

Wide Grip Romanian Deadlifts (5 seconds negative, straps, no hard belt)
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x10 (miscounted; did 9 then 1)
245x11 (miscounted)
260x10
280x10

Walking Lunges
bwx12/12
bwx12/12
bwx12/12

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (2 seconds)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Nordic Curls (self-assist on concentrics)
bwx5 (miscounted)
bwx6
bwx6

Standing Band Hip Adductions/Hanging L-Sits
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
(2)µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds

Stretching
  
Comments: Stupid stuff at work continues but I seemed to be in more control of things and getting stuff sorted. But odds are it will be another cluster that despite my advanced warnings, it will become an emergency and my problem. Not sure if just stressed or from the single lat pulldowns but left side lower back was a bit stiff. It was feeling that way after the workout yesterday too. Other than that, didn’t feel like I really trained the previous day if going off of soreness (other than the tendonitis in the right elbow). Took a little bit to get things sorted and figured out for the session today as bringing back some older things and adding in new stuff as well as variations to things I had been doing. Mobility stuff was decent, I was hoping it would loosen up the lower back more than it did but should be thankful it did anything really for that. So after that, it was what I’d consider the prefatgiue part of the workout. Banded leg curls with tempo applied to the contraction and eccentric. Plan here was to do 3x15-20 with several reps in the tank each set to pump up the hamstrings. I figured light bands would be safe to try. The first ten reps these felt like nothing. Then they kicked in and my hamstrings were warming up and getting sore. The holds are hard but the controlled eccentrics were vicious. Especially so against bands since they are trying to accelerate. These were pretty long sets to do as well. Could say this was enough for a hamstring workout but it wasn’t unfortunately. This was the appetizers. So next up was one from the earlier training cycle (though I think I only ended up doing it once); wide grip rdls with 5 second negatives. Advised to warm up in 5’s and pause briefly before going back up. Advised to wear straps and I could wear my rehband belt if I wanted to but no hard support belts for now. I figured I’d wear it with the lower back feeling tight. Didn’t take me much time to get the hang of these again. Plan for the day was 4x10 and increase the weight each set. As is usually the case with higher reps and tempo stuff, I lost count of reps the first two sets. First set I did one under and came back and did the extra rep after reviewing the video. Second set I did an extra. It felt tougher than I would’ve like it to be so went up only 15lbs (I was planning 20lbs all the way) and that felt really easy so I went back to 20lbs for the last set and that felt decently tough. Not sure if it counts as PR on these with it being more volume and more reps with more weight compared to last time as the last time I had no support gear of any kind. I will say that I did feel like on these I was a too far forward but that could just be from not doing rdls for months now and just overthinking my anterior tib tightness and dorsiflexion. I did find myself flexing my lats on these hard to keep the bar stable. Initially out of necessity and then trying to consciously. After that, it was lighter fare. Walking lunges for decent reps. Dark outside and the street was really the only place with enough room for me to do these without having to turn around a bunch of times. So had to get on all the safety stuff and lights. I also wasn’t sure how these would feel on the knees. Wore the knee sleeves for these. That first set, my knees weren’t a fan. Second set it felt great and no issues. Comfortable. Third set it was in-between and I’m not entirely sure why. I do wonder if these may need some kind of warming up to feel good, similar to the leg extensions and such on the weekend workout. Maybe some light TKEs or something. I know that these are a good exercise and the fact I’ve only been able to do them just a few times stinks because stuff gets in the way. I credit the brief cycle I did with these in 2018  (with light weight overhead) with improving my stride quality to win that last event at the Plat Plus show to book my Arnold ticket. After that it was back into the garage for more shenanigans. Copenhagen stuff is back again. Lowered hold times made these a good bit more bearable to do. But no less exhausting. After that was a tough one; Nordic curls. Plan here was 3x6 and attempt to do them without assistance. Big ask. Setup was a bit different since no bands this time so I had to anchor more weight to insure stability of base. I’ve made big improvements on hamstrings but it just not there yet. I had mostly good negatives haha. Still need a good bit of help from the hands to get back up. Hard enough that I thought I did 6 that first set but only did 5. I got them the other two sets. Second set felt the best to me as there were 2 reps where I only had to push off with my fingertips. This exercise without assistance if damn brutal. Tendons and muscles were sore. My left leg more so than my right. Everything from the back of the knee to below the knee on both sides were sore. Last item of the day was a superset. Not one I’ve done before. Standing band hip adductions combined with hanging l-sits. Sets of 15 reps for the bands and then 30 seconds holds for the hanging abs. I was advised for the l-sit I could just tuck my knees or add weight to adjust the difficulty. Legs out with nothing added was fine and my limit for my abdominals and hips by the end of it. I did have chalk in case I needed as I had worked up a good sweat beforehand. But my grip felt solid. Left shoulder didn’t care for the flexed hang but it is what it is at this point. Just got to keep working at it. I may have gone too light with the band stuff. The example video was using a theraband so I used micro bands as I wasn’t too sure what the fatigue would be over the sets. The other issue was standing away to get enough tension and not really being able to brace on anything so it also became a balance exercise. Which might be a good thing for me. Felt much tougher to balance standing on my left foot vs my right foot. Not sure if that is from an imbalance or if not having the patio sunroom door/windows to stare at effects things. Otherwise, it feels about the same. I wanted to be lazy when I was done and just leave weights out to go eat but I made myself put everything away before eating and stretching. Iced knees before bed.


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