November 29, 2021 – Week 8, Day 1

Band Face Pulls
abx15
abx15
abx15

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
165x3
195x3
225x3
245x4
205x5
205x5

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bwx5
bw+25x3
bw+50x12
bw+50x12
bw+50x12

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
265x8
265x8
265x12

Banded Push Ups
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
lbx20
abx15
sbx10

Dumbbell Y Raises (high incline)
10’sx15
10’sx15
10’sx15

Single Arm Band Triceps Extensions
mmbx20/20
mmbx20/20
mmbx20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: Cold appears to finally be sticking now. Can be tricky when it seems to go between decently warm and cold. Reminder that I can do things even if I haven’t done them in a while but just because I can doesn’t mean I’m fully adapted to it. Neck and traps are exquisitely sore from the farmer’s walk and hold on Saturday. Just another thing that needs to be conditioned with the next few months to be ready show time. This week appears to be the start of things getting more specific with the weekend training being the start of that. Right elbow tendonitis is a thing but it does seem to be feeling better after wearing the copper sleeve. Wearing that during the day seems to help slightly. So for the training today, things were adjusted. Less stuff at the beginning. Starting things off with band face pulls. Nice and easy. Slight hold on these and short rests. Focusing on the external rotation. Beltless strict pressing after that. This week the indication was to work up in triples to a top set of 5 reps (1RIR) and then take a bit off that for 2x5. My thinking here was 225lbs but I was thinking if I felt good I could do more. I told myself that if 225lbs felt too light at 3 reps, I’d try 245lbs. 245lbs would be 10lbs off my lifetime best set of 5 reps with a belt. 225lbs did feel easy. But 245lbs did not. It felt a lot heavier and I struggled to get 3 reps after hitting the safeties on the second rep and getting off balance at lockout on the third. I rested 20 seconds and gave it another go and got another rep for 4 reps. I was mad that I overestimated myself on these. I did give a fifth rep a try but it barely got moving so shut it down there. Don’t want to grind myself into the ground. This is the most weight I’ve attempted to strict press in several years at this point. 225lbs felt really easy. 245lbs felt tough and I could feel the triceps not being there on that fourth rep. Plan had been to reduce the weight by 10-12.5%. Seeing as how I was 1 rep shy of the goal (and way off the difficulty), I went with 40lbs off with the assumption that I could’ve done 227lbs-235lbs here today for 5 reps with 1RIR. First set felt easy like it should. Second set felt a lot tougher and wasn’t as good. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. No holds this week. Advised that those could possibly aggravate the elbow tendons. Good contractions being the goal and aim of 3 sets of 8-12 reps with 2RIR so I could add weight as needed. I felt that 50lbs added would be enough and aim for the higher rep ranges as the fatigue factor seems high on these taking moderate rest and want to see if I could complete 3x12 with this weight before worrying about adding more weight. First set felt really good. Each set got tougher but feel it was in parameters. Right biceps was feeling a little tight on the second and third set. Close grip bench was up next. Change in the warm-ups (hope I did it right) so lot less volume and sets to get to the working weight. 10lbs more than last week for 2x8 and then a max rep set (2RIR). Stuff feeling heavy in my forearms and joints. Similar to how things felt last week. Rep set felt the best. I think I’m getting used to how these feel (the strength curve) a bit more with the increase in weight and not getting frustrated when it doesn’t move easy for me. Back into the garage for push-ups. Bands again. With how they felt last week, I didn’t feel the need to do any warming up with the bands after doing some regular push-ups. From what I gathered for this session, it appears it was to be 3 sets of max reps with 2RIR and having the band tensions increase from having it easy enough to do 20 reps to hard enough that 8 reps would be near my limits. Well my plan was to do light, average and strong and aim to do 20/15/10 on those. Light band felt easy enough but did start to get tough. Average band actual felt kind of easy compared to things. Strong band holy hell. That was tough. May need to wear wrist wraps on that next time as that is a ton of tension. From there a new twist on an old favorite; y raises. No long holds or tempo work but it was different. Advised to do these off a high incline (60 degrees). I wasn’t sure how these would feel so I stuck with the 10lbs for this session and somewhat short rests. Probably can go up a little here. Last thing was more triceps. Band extensions. I was messing around with things and monster mini seemed to be where I was at right now. Light band too much. For my left side, the band was digging into my palm (issue with the monster minis being thicker but not wider) so I put on a fat gripz extreme to keep that from being a thing. Left side definitely having a much harder time then the right. I may need to do these outside to insure that I’m not worried about hitting the ceiling and having the form the same both sides as I think I had things more out to the side on the right side. Put stuff away before making dinner and then stretching.

November 27, 2021 – Week 7, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)
80x6
120x6
160x13 (miscounted)
160x12
160x12

Single Leg Squats to Box (20”)
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x3
315x3
365x12
315x12
315x12

Farmer’s Walk (16” pick)
Casual Pace
50x50’
50x50’
Normal
100x50’
150x25’
200x25’
240x50’
240x50’
240x50’
240x224’ (30 seconds hold)

Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
60x6(3/3)
75x6(3/3)
90x6(3/3)
105x14(7/7)
105x16(8/8)
105x12(6/6)

Backwards “Sled” Drags (Exer-Genie)
9x60’
10x60’
12x60’

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: Extended holidays can really throw me for a loop. A lot more social interaction and changes in schedule. I do my best to adjust and I make the effort. But I do have to acknowledge it wears me out. Have to know limitations. The past few years Thanksgiving has been local so it hasn’t been as stressful as it has been when elsewhere. It is a complicated time for me with it being my late grandfather’s favorite holiday and then also being the anniversary of when Mike passed away. So mixture of happy and sad, family and mortality. Sleep and eating was off a bit. Right elbow tendonitis still present but seems slightly better. Trying to think what has been different as it became a thing when I had to go single arm for weeks after the left elbow was fractured. Part of it being I think maybe not wearing the copper arm sleeves as much so seeing if the one on helps. Made fantastic time out to train. Good bit of people there so sort of mixture of novice, intermediates and worn out like me haha. Sound system didn’t appear to be working so no tunes. Which is ok. Don’t have to have music. It’s just something nice. I again felt compelled to give unsolicited advice on stuff before I got really into my workout. Event work I feel confident in my “coach’s eye” but beyond that no. Novice person struggling to pick up a husafel and somewhat intermediates with keg loads. It is great seeing the little tweaks click for them and make huge improvements in minutes. Showed a taller guy with long arms better way to load keg using his leverages and helped another guy make his amrap set better on keg loads by improving reps from 8 to 12. Mobility stuff not as great balance wise as it was two weeks ago but it was loads better than last week. Wasn’t feeling as many aches in my knees this time around. Seated tempo leg curls again to start. Set weight and aiming for 3x12 with the tempo. Not as easy as last week I think but that could be from me being distracted from helping others with event work and this being more of a warming up exercise. I mean, I did miscount the first set. Not to say it wasn’t still easy stuff. Unilateral stuff next. Seeing as how I’ve maxed out the lateral stepdowns, new exercise. Single leg squats to box. Plan being 3x8 and to control them and use a high box this workout to break in to things. I’ve done and should still be able to do pistol squats. The issue would probably be more getting warmed up for it and keeping the non-lifting leg out in front. So I tested things with my left leg to see how these felt and it felt tough but didn’t feel like it was something that would require knee sleeves on. Left side is definitely behind when it come to this compared to my right side. These got easier as I did them. SSB squats were next. My stomach was really gassy so I was feeling a little queasy which isn’t great when you are doing squats and then having do more stuff that requires bracing after that. Belt back on this time. Plan here was work up in triples to 365lbs and then do an AMRAP with 1-2RIR. And that qualifier was to be no good morning squats up so stop before form starts to breakdown. That can be tricky with ssb since upper back and the center of gravity on these can make me pitch forward more from fatigue rather than my legs being spent. Trying to not have a ton of hesitancy on the first rep like I was having last week. 50lbs jumps worked out here. I was expecting 10 reps with 2RIR here but I surprised myself with getting 12 reps with reps left over. Pleased with that but not with what followed. The plan after that was to take 50lbs off and then match those reps for two sets. Those weren’t terrible but it was more that I was having the queasy stomach and burping that made it difficult. Much prefer the lower rep sets for a lot of sets haha. But need to do all kinds for this sport. Then on to the event stuff. This week having two kind of event like things in the session. Starting to ramp things up towards competition training with it being 15 weeks out. The off-season training has been good so probably will have some bridging sessions over the next few weeks and not a straight split and change. So for today, it was farmer’s walks. I had thought I did these more recently than I did but I guess not. Last time was January 30th. Since then, it has been frame holds and moving events have been kegs, sandbags, odd objects, duck walks and yoke. Yoke covers a good bit of things but not quite the same as became apparent when I started things. The goal for the day was to do 240lbs for 3 sets of 50’ and then do a max distance set with that weight with some suggestions depending on the situation. Not necessarily max speed, just getting used to moving with weight and getting a good grip workout. So I did warm-ups a bit like I do with yoke now; casual pace with empty implement and then work on full distance trying to build up speed and then half distances. I used a pair of farmer’s handles I never used before. One reason I think was that I’d have nothing to base things off of really for all the records I keep for time and weight and implements. I wasn’t concerned with speed and not really going to focus on timing the sets like I’ve obsessed about in the past. Like yoke two weeks prior, my knees felt like ass at the start but thankfully they felt fine as I got used to things. Need to work on my breathing here as the pick is much more draining compared to yoke where I can set that to anything I want whereas these are set height. This weight was fairly light considering and it was more just me not doing these in 11 months that had the picks feel a little off. No chalk here. For the max distance set, I wanted to go far and not be stuck to inside. The handles I had picked were probably the longest ones and would be terrible for turns. Options here had been to go for straight shot max distance (preferred), do turns at 50’ if I felt confident in my turns (I do not right now, especially with these long ass handles lol) or do 150’ and then drop them and repick and do a max hold. I figured that I’d try and do max distance and if I ran out of space, I’d do a hold for time (my picks and set downs were not great today so resetting would be a chore). Now unfortunately the handles I was using while great for feet clearance, didn’t work with the hand truck with weight on them so I had to unloaded them to set them up. Using the wind tunnel and starting on the turf. No clue how far it was going to be. Swapped out the iron plates for bumpers as they would be easier to bring back inside when I was done. Chalked up my hands and went after it. Felt good but I could feel myself slowing down on the uneven concrete loading dock. I stopped once I got to the point where the concrete became blacktop that would go up to the train tracks as that was a steep incline. So I felt I’d hold for time. 15 seconds felt too easy so I did 30 seconds and then stopped. It was cold and didn’t want to risk possibly tearing my hands. I didn’t know how far I went and I felt like I was fatiguing too much and was well short of what I wanted to be doing. Guess that wasn’t true though. Turns out that it was just over 224’. First 75’ of it being turf. And then followed by a 30 seconds or so hold. Guess this just doesn’t leave me. 2 up and 1 down leg curls after that. Same long negatives on these. Hopefully I did thing right for this exercise this week. Listed to do 105lbs for all three working sets and to do them with 2-3RIR with aim being 10-15 reps. Not sure on that with these being even numbers unless I miss a rep on a leg. Left leg is stronger on these but there is that discomfort that is present. So the right leg seems to struggle with control on these. Did sets of 3 reps each leg to warm up for these same as last time. The 2-3RIR was definitely kept for my left leg but not so much with the right leg. Kind of surprised I felt strongest on the second set. Then the appropriate fatigue hit me for the last set. Twist on an oldie after that. Backwards sled drags. But not with a sled. Suggestion for this week was to do them with the exer-genie. Plan here being 3 sets of 7-8 RPE with somewhat short rests. Like all exer-genie things, it is a pain in the ass to get things setup in a way that doesn’t get stuck. But once it is sorted out, it goes pretty darn smoothly. So I was having all kinds of problems with this until finally it clicked. I was tempted to do more sets once I got it figured out but it seemed that all sets were within the planned guidelines. Last item of the session was quad fallbacks. These have been about the same since they’ve been added back into training and I’ve figured out how to do them without pain. There was a weather advisory but it wasn’t until 11:00PM so I finished up stretching at the gym before driving home.

November 25, 2021 – Week 7, Day 3

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Pulldowns
45x10/sbx15/15
45x10/sbx15/15

Paused Axle Push Presses (beltless, 2 seconds)
27x3
57x3
87x3
117x3
147x3
177x3
177x3
177x3
177x3
177x3
177x3

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ bands
No Bands
90x3
Added Bands (+17lbs bottom/+36lbs top)
90x3
120x3
150x3
175x3
200x3
220x3
220x3
220x3
190x12

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds)
No Straps
45x5
75x5
105x5
Added Straps
135x5
165x5
200x10
180x10
180x10

RP Style Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
16’sx15/16’sx15
16’sx15/16’sx15
16’sx15/16’sx21

Feet Elevated (17”) Push-ups (3-3-0-0 tempo)
bwx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Well Wednesday was exhausting. As expected, it was work all day to try and get stuff taken care of so that I had very little that would be potentially overdue on Monday. Got minimal things that I wanted to do done after that haha. Trying to get answers on stuff with the changes coming for Strongman Corporation and at this point it has been 3 days with no response so I take the nonresponse as the response and just see where the next few months go. I have until April to renew if I want to do that. Got minimal soft tissue work done Wednesday night. I needed some rest as I was slightly irritable Wednesday after work. Right elbow tendonitis is constant and a drag. Just have to see if I can find better ways to manage it. Got to bed late and with it being Thanksgiving, that meant that I’d have to train fairly early to be available in the early afternoon. So starting things out with getting as much of my stuff setup for training so that once I was going, there would be minimal downtime and setup for each. So starting the workout with the BTN presses with pauses into one arm band lat pulls. Good, felt better. Less shoulder aches this time around. Overhead work after that. It was light last week but it appears we are backing off on that a bit more to get used to things. So dropping to 55% and adding a set so it will be 6x3 with 60-90 seconds rest. Only wrist wraps, no other support stuff. Pauses for 2 seconds in the dip. I went 1lb heavier just for easier plate math. These felt easy. Sun was a little bit in my eye some sets. Been so long since I’ve trained and there was sunlight during the week haha. I was a little concerned as my shoulders were still feeling some fatigue from these at the start but it went away. These felt really comfortable. 3rd set of these felt the best. Not sure if they actually were but there was just this compact feeling I had throughout my upper torso unracking the weight that made me feel like I could reverse the flow of a waterfall with an uppercut. Those are the good feelings that make the actual movement after that point a formality. Can’t get that every time though. Log incline with the bands after that. So for today no real guidelines to warm-up but to get to 220x3x3 and then take off 30lbs for an AMRAP. This exercise can feel harder than it looks. The bands really seem to kick in hard immediately. Last week, that set with 215lbs felt easy but then my first down set with 195lbs felt harder than that due to where it hit my chest I think. Or I wasn’t as focused. So can’t let up. These felt heavy today but it does look like I probably could’ve done 5 reps for all three sets. Left shoulder was a little achy. So I was very surprised how easy the weight was moving with the 30lbs removed. I was thinking 8 reps or so with 2RIR was what I was going to get to with how things were feeling but then this felt like nothing. I possibly stopped a rep early here. But wanted to be safe with that. Rows after that. Not dumbbell this time. Bringing back something from a good bit back this year. Barbell rows with the pauses using the bench for support. Pretty much has been two variations of this. One being holds each rep and the other being holds for half the reps and then regular reps the other half. This was holds every rep from the very first block of training from the very first training cycle this year. So I had numbers that I expected I could beat now coming back to it. Unlike then when I’d just go at 135lbs right off the bat, I did lighter stuff to warm-up to it. Partly to see how it felt again and partly to get warmed up. Plan here was work up in 5’s to a top set of 10 (2RIR) and then drop 10% for 2x10. Aim was 200lbs since that made easy math and should be doable. Kind of missed these rows (not the pauses, just the barbell chest supported stuff haha). These get tough quick but I got through these fairly well. Dumbbell super set was next. Into the garage for these. It was nice out but I made sense to bring things inside so that I could clean up when done faster. So I wasn’t really given the option to stay lighter as this time the plan was to push things. Goal was to do 15’s for both for exercises (aim being 10-15 reps with 2RIR) and then do a max rep set for the rear delts at the end of things. Like the axle, I went with 1lbs heavier due to easier plate math. Changing from the solid dumbbells to the plateloaded dumbbells does add some changes to things. The main one being that the plate diameter has things a bit further away. Not that big an issue with the laterals as I’ve done that and been used to that but with the rear delts, it was a little off putting as I generally get a little more ROM at the bottom end. I felt that getting 15 reps on the sets was within what I can do. The lactic acid and fatigue hits hard but I know I can muster out more reps at that point. Max reps was definitely difficult. Last thing was a set of the feet elevated push-ups with tempo. I was advised to do one set close to failure and if I felt like I needed to, do 1-2 sets of low reps to get ready. With it being bodyweight only, I didn’t feel like I needed the other sets and with it being tempo work, it was going to fatigue me if I did them unless I took long rests between them. I was going to be plenty warm by the end of the set. These definitely started to feel tougher than last time after about 10 reps in. Probably should’ve stopped at 19 reps but I got greedy and wanted 20 reps. That was definitely an at failure rep there to lockout. Quickly put stuff away before stretching and cleaning up and then going to spend time with family for Thanksgiving.

November 23, 2021 – Week 7, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Snatch Grip Deadlifts (straps, beltless)
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
365x3
405x3
445x5
405x5
405x5

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (2 seconds, straps, beltless)
135x5
185x5
225x3
275x3
320x12
320x12

Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”)
bwx5/5
bw+15x5/5
bw+30x5/5
bw+55x10/10
bw+55x10/10
bw+55x10/10

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (1 second, long holds last rep)
bwx12/12 (25 seconds)
bwx12/12 (20 seconds)
bwx12/12 (15 seconds)

Paused Standing Band Hip Adductions (1 second)/Hanging L-Sits/Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
lbx20/20 – bw+20x20 seconds – 90x20/20
lbx20/20 – bw+20x20 seconds – 90x20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: Added stress with things for today. Only three work days and the system wasn’t letting me do work until halfway through the shift so really adding on the work that needs to be done tomorrow. Mobility warm-ups are good. Hardly noticed the left leg issue on these today. So that seems like a good sign. Wore my warm-ups to help get warm in the garage with it getting cold now. Pulls from the floor seem to be the thing now. So last week was paused stuff that was light. This week might be the heavy stuff. Snatch grip pulls. No belt, straps allowed and working up in triples to a 5RIR with 2RIR. Then take off some weight for 2x5. So I wasn’t sure what this would be. There was a plan to do things like this last training cycle but then I broke my elbow and that was a no go. I’ve done these periodically. I used to do these collar to collar in the past and was advised around 2015 that it was too much and no reason to got that wide, even with my long arms. And then these weren’t really a thing for a few years and the style I was advised to do was more a wide stance with a wide grip to work the hamstrings and upper back. So I wanted to make sure what was the intent here. So I guess what I’ll designate is wide grip being at least one hand spacing wider than my normal grip and snatch being a hand space wider than that. I think I have outside of my hands on the rings for the wide grip and thumbs on the rings for the snatch grip. Right arm was feeling funky from the tendonitis but not like it was a pain thing or something that I felt I was in danger. Just not used to that and kind of tense. So I wasn’t sure here what I’d pull. I was thinking that I should be good for 405lbs. Not my best (I think I’ve done 10 reps before). Felt like crap that first set but I think I got the hang of things by 225lbs. Usually that just seems to feel the best as far as pulls for me. Wider grip certainly makes it harder to brace. Or I guess it doesn’t feel as solid like when my arms are at my side. Possibly that proprioception. Unlike the pause pulls, I wasn’t feeling refreshed after each set. These were working things hard. I was prepared for 405lbs to be the top set. But it felt too light. But I didn’t think that I could do 455lbs without the possibility of leaving 2RIR for certain. So I went with 40lbs jump instead of the alternating 40-50lbs I was doing. This was a good call. I mean, probably could’ve done it but it would’ve been really close. And this was good for a first time back in a good while. Maybe 18 months or so since doing them the wide/wide style and certainly more than half a decade of doing them this way. Took 40lbs off for the down sets. First few reps each set came up quick. Just surprising how quickly I was getting fatigued. I was noticing near the end of those sets my left knee was feeling achy and it was like it was preventing me from pushing off with as much force as I could. I was dealing with much more extreme version of that with the right knee leading up to the last show after my knees went on strike for a week or so and coming back to things. So from there on to rdls. Same guidelines as last week with no belt and 2 second pauses. I initially thought this was listed as too light a workload as it was just 5lbs more on my down sets from last week. But it was right. Those snatch grips took a total and while I didn’t feel like these were terrible, I was certainly feeling fatigued. From there it was on to the less hamstring and spine taxing stuff. FFE split squats. This time I was advised to warm-up in sets of 3-5 reps and then do 3x10 with reps in the tank. I felt like I could try using the ssb on these if I felt comfortable. My knees were super achy (especially the left one) so I figured I’d take things fairly slow here and see how I felt. I did more reps to warm things up and see if that helped. I used my back pack for the weight to work up as my intent was to use the empty ssb for these today. But I felt it was best to save that for another time and work with what I have and know I can do. So while doing these, I felt like it was much easier for my right leg to do these, even though I have better dorsiflexion for the left side. My supporting leg when doing them with the left leg feels a greater stretch. Looking at the video, I’m thinking it might be that I can get deeper with that side as I’m having my knee touch the ground with the supporting leg whereas I don’t appear to be doing that with the other side. I don’t know if that is because I can keep that leg pretty much perfectly straight while a slight bend with the one that touches. I’ll need to keep note of that for next time. The copenhagen stuff was next. Same plan as last week but actually did it. 3x12. Holds on the last rep of each set. I managed to get better times overall this week compared to last with 5 seconds long on each hold from last week. Last thing was the triset of band adductions, hanging L-sits and those take forever seated calf raises. So I was bit better with getting things setup and switching between stations I feel. Kept stuff the same besides the ssb calf stuff as I went up 5lbs on those. Probably won’t notice the change there. Bands were good. Feeling the knees a little with all the new work being done and just them being complainy today. I tried to ease into the L-sits a bit better this week so not a shock to my shoulders like last time. Nothing I can do to make the shock to the hip flexors and lower abdominals though haha. Nothing to really say with the seated calf stuff. No issues the second run. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching. Didn’t get a chance to ice knees as I wanted to not stay up forever as I had a lot of work to get done before quitting time tomorrow.

November 22, 2021 – Week 7, Day 1

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
18’sx15/10’sx15
18’sx15/10’sx15
18’sx15/10’sx15

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
165x3
197x3
197x3
197x3
197x3
197x3

Paused Feet Elevated Pull-ups (2 seconds, Rings)
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12

Close Grip Bench Presses
75x10
105x9
135x8
165x7
195x6
225x5
255x10
255x10
255x10

Banded Push Ups
No Bands
bwx5
Added Bands
mbx5
mmbx5
lbx5
abx15
ab+µbx15

Band Triceps Pressdowns/Band Biceps Curls
sb+mmbx25/lb’sx25
sb+mmbx25/lb’sx25

Stretching
  
Comments: Getting colder outside. I’m generally good with cold but not when combined with wind which is what this evening was. I at least seem to have refocused on what my plan is for the interim as far as competing. Beyond that, not sure. Does seem to be some breathing room now. So with how this session went last week, it appears this was to be kind of a deload of sorts. Right elbow tendonitis is a thing and seems to have been more present from the following week. Doing soft tissue work and recovery stuff. Starting things off with the dumbbell raises for shoulders. This week to do 3x15 instead of 2x20 and to keep 5RIR. So I adjusted the weights accordingly. Laterals are just more fatiguing than bent over ones for me now as the percentage drop in both was the same. I wore my long sleeve warm-up jacket to keep things warm. I’d be warm enough as I got going. From there on to standing pressing outside in the rack. Still beltless. Similar to what was done with yoke runs and push pressing with the light weights, these were to be 5x3 with 60-90 seconds rest. Warming up felt ok. While triceps didn’t feel like they were quitting on me like last week, these didn’t feel as powerful as they had been the previous two weeks. That was less sets though. I did feel like these got better as I did them up until set four. Set 3 was good but I got a little off balance on my second rep and stumbled forward. Set 4 was my best set. Last set was just ok. And that was it for the overhead pressing. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. These must have been ugly last week as this time the hold times for reps was double from before and advised to do just bodyweight and focus on staying upright torso. Holds at contraction on rowing/pulling exercises are really a struggle for me but I see the benefit when I’m allowed to go back to normal. I end up using a lot less weight to get the work done but I can still hit big weights or PRs returning to the normal tempo sometimes by accident just a workout back into them. Fatigue of the sets was definitely felt as I feel my form was pretty much perfect that first set and by the end of the fourth set it was a struggle. From there, it was the close grip. No feet up this time. Advised to aim for 3x10 with 3RIR and do the usual pyramid up in weight like I’ve been doing for weeks now. I felt more stable but not necessarily feeling a lot stronger with the feet on the ground. Might have been cutting it close on the difficulty with these as I seem to be quite fast those first five reps and then it becomes quite tough long arms so I get a good bit of stretch reflex but triceps are worked hard to lockout. So last few reps I feel like I have to slow things down to keep balance and not lose the bar too far forward or back. I did it with the planned weight but I guess I was kind of hoping I could push this more or that this would feel easier than it did. Wrists didn’t bother me but my forearms felt sore in the bones haha. Back into the garage for push-ups. Change in variation. Bands and to do them with control and explode up. I wasn’t sure how these would go so I did several sets of five reps with increasing band tension. Felt good. I figured that average bands would be enough to have 12-15 reps with 3RIR. That set was too light but I didn’t feel like I could jump up to a strong band and stay in the parameters so I did 15 reps and stopped. I didn’t think I was going that fast on the eccentric but bands do that I guess. I tried to control it more for the second set with an added micro band. That was just right as far as getting within the difficulty level I wanted. Last thing was the bands for bis and tris. 2x25 this week. Not that this was an invitation to increase tension this week but I decided to as I felt like it was a missed opportunity last week when I didn’t. The increase I did for the triceps was expected but not for the biceps. I was quite pleased I was able to use the light bands here. Finished up with putting stuff away before eating dinner. Stretched and iced the right elbow before bed.

November 20, 2021 – Week 6, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)
80x10
120x10
160x15
160x15

Lateral Step Downs 
bwx5/5 (16”)
bwx5/5 (20”)
bwx5/5 (24”)
bwx10/10 (32”) PR+4”
bwx10/10 (32”)

Safety Squat Bar Squats (beltless)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x6
335x6
335x6
335x6

Sandbag Complexes (Rows + Roll-ups)
200x3+3
225x3+3
250x3+3
275x3+3
306x5+5
306x5+5
306x5+5

Reverse Band Hack Squats (LB’s)
emptyx5
+50x5
+100x5
+150x5
+200x5
+245x5
+290x15
+290x15

Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
45x6(3/3)
60x6(3/3)
75x6(3/3)
90x6(3/3)
105x10(5/5)
105x10(5/5)
105x10(5/5)

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: I essentially got up about when I would normally for work today. Again. Just felt like I should. I had some stuff around the house I had put off that I needed to do before I left to train so that I’d have less stuff when I got back home. Feeling stress from the upcoming changes with the amateur strongman stuff. I wish I didn’t even though it is a long ways off but it feels like the timeline is being compressed with having to make decisions before the year is up as opposed to like after March of next year. I still need answers on things. Kind of that I don’t want to waste my time. But I haven’t truly committed to anything with the off season training for at least another week. So out to train. Made really good time. Left shoulder and neck area still tight. Not painful, just noticing this. Good bit of people there but not anyone that is more seasoned. So a lot of novice level people. I felt compelled to give unsolicited advice on stuff. I didn’t realize I used to do that a lot with strongman stuff and I’m more aware that I do this and I’m almost giving advice and apologizing for giving the advice at the same time. I’m a social mess. Anyways, on to my training. Mobility stuff felt ok but compared to last week, I was an uncoordinated mess. But like I’ve said, it doesn’t really seem to have any bearing on how the session goes for me. Seated tempo leg curls again to start. Set weight and aiming for 2x10-15 with the tempo. Trying to not rock my body like I have been doing and just find a sweet spot that lets me lift and not cause massive amounts of discomfort in the left leg. The (mostly bad) country music that was playing during the start of my training session didn’t help matters much haha. But I do think I had good success with the leg curls. Next thing being the lateral step downs. The last few sessions it just said to make them tough enough to get something as far as the hips. This time it had me working up in certain number of sets and reps to 2x10 with the indication that it be hard. My knees and hips ached like a sonnuvabitch. I had been doing icing and soft tissue work. So first two heights felt like crap. Thinking that maybe only go up to 24” today despite hitting height PRs the past two weeks. 24” felt better and I figured I’d do 28” for both sets. But then I thought do it for one set and go for 32” the second set. Eventually that became just do 32” for both sets, or drop the height the second set if too hard first set. So a 4” PR attempt for even a single. I’ve reached the bottom. I can’t go any higher without not being able to touch the floor with my foot. And I was able to do the reps and sets here. So that was neat. So I can’t go any higher on these. From there it was on to ssb squats. Same as last time with it just being normal with no belt. Got to use my preferred rack and there were no dogs barking (no dogs :( ). So with how things were last week, I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to the workload. 335lbs for 4x6. Report how I felt at the end of the last set. Knees were aching a lot and I kind of felt like I had to go down slow on that first rep with 335lbs (similar to hack squats) to feel my knees were good for this. After that, this was pretty easy. I felt very little fatigue between the sets and still felt like I could do a set of 10 reps on that last set. Not sure how I feel about this haha as squats are hard and now I’m feeling good with them. Hopefully this isn’t like this week with my triceps after kickass sessions the week before. Then it was the kind of event work exercise of the session. Well I guess not right away as both lanes were being used for event work so I had to wait. I used that time to get the hack squat machine setup for the next thing afterwards. Sandbags again. So this time it was a complex of rows followed by roll-ups. I did something similar when coming back to using both arms after the elbow fracture and wrist sprain. I did some rows up into a lap and stand and then dropped it and repeated the sequence for a set. So for these, I was to do 5 rows with the sandbag followed by 5 roll-ups. Advised to work up in low reps to a weight that was very hard to row but was still easy to do the roll-ups with. Elbow tendonitis in the right arm was a little distracting. I wanted to do the 306lbs sandbag for this but I knew that just because I wanted to, it might not fit the parameters depending on how I’m feeling. So I could be doing 250lbs or 275lbs for these. 275lbs bag is a bit different from the other sandbags (but I guess so is the 306lbs) but it felt light enough that I went for 306lbs. Now I made a mistake here. I thought I only had to do two sets of these. The first set was quite easy. Second set I got a bad grip on the sandbag for the rows and it sucked but I got it for the roll-ups which are easy. So started to switch out of my stuff for hack squats and drank intra-workout stuff before checking the workout to see I had another set of these. Ugh, hope I don’t puke. So got set again and did that third set. I’d say it was better than the second set but not as good as the first set. Hack squats after that. Same as last week with the plan being to do 2x15 but leave 3RIR. Gets tough with that many reps. I felt I could try for more compared to last week. Like everything the involved bending my knees, they ached a ton until I got to the working set weight. 10lbs extra was noticed this week. Probably from all the deep squats from the laterals and the ssb. Legs getting stronger and more conditioned for what is needed from them. From there it was more leg curls. Bringing back a style. Two legs to lift, one leg to lower. Lower reps and long eccentrics. I think the idea being less stress on the whatever I messed up in the leg five weeks ago. So started with the left leg (my stronger leg on these but also the one that gets irritated) to gauge things. Work up to 10 reps for 3 sets with a weight that feels like I have 3RIR. It can be really tricky with the long negatives to figure out how much is actually left in the tank with how just an extra rep is so much more time under tension. Strength and control was feeling good. I say this as in the past the eccentrics on these have not been the best as far as control but I feel that the extra hamstring work and doing the tempo stuff on them has gotten me better at it. So feeling good with that and went for 15lbs jumps and felt like I could do over 100lbs on these today. Left leg not really a fan but seems to tolerate the slower eccentrics better than normal paced. Weight does seem to play a factor but it seems to be stress in that last few degrees of the leg fully extending that stresses stuff. As far as how the sets went as far as discomfort best was 2nd set and worst was 3rd set. No issues with the right side other than getting fatigued a bit faster than the left. Last item of the session was quad fallbacks. Didn’t change footwear for these this week as with the new setup I’ve been doing that lets me do these without discomfort. I’m trying to have more control on the motion as far as the concentric rather than worrying about the trying to touch the floor with my head. Finished up with stretching before driving home.

November 18, 2021 – Week 6, Day 3

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Pulldowns
45x10/sbx15/15
45x10/sbx15/15

Paused Axle Push Presses (beltless, 2 seconds)
32x3
72x3
102x3
132x3
162x3
192x3
192x3
192x3
192x3
192x3

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ bands
No Bands
90x5
Added Bands (+17lbs bottom/+36lbs top)
90x3
120x3
140x3
160x3
180x3
200x3
215x5
195x5
195x5

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
40’sx5
60’sx5
75’sx5
90’sx5
105’sx8
105’sx8
85’sx14

RP Style Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15

Feet Elevated (17”) Push-ups (3-3-0-0 tempo)
bwx17
bwx15

Stretching
 
Comments: Feeling a little stressed about things with strongman. I know I shouldn’t let stuff that is literally years in the future but I feel like I kind of have to look at long term plans with how my progress and the nature of things with this sport has been. I like/love training and generally like to compete. But it is getting really complicated for no reason. I will have to think on it when I have a moment. Any ways, on to training. So I did soft tissue work the evening before and woke up with a tight left shoulder. Must have slept on it wrong. Not exactly what I want with an upper body session. So this workout had a bit of changes made to it. Some exercises dropped, some added and other modified. Weather was weird today. It was cold inside my garage in the early afternoon but mid 60’s outside. Shortly after it got really windy and dark outside. Which turned into rain. Of course this workout kind changed to include stuff I had to do outside and it rains haha. Only a little bit thankfully. So instead of the bands for chest and back to warm-up, it was more stuff to open up the chest and shoulders. BTN presses with pauses into one arm band lat pulls. Not intense things. Some shoulder aches but nothing really with the BTN. Lat pulls with lot less band tension and really working on getting a good ROM and stretch here. Overhead work after that. Light, easing back into it with leg drive. I was slightly concerned as the last time I did axle was when my knee was killing me so much I stopped the workout and went to urgent care the following day for x-rays. And that was with knee sleeves. So truly thankful that these felt fine without anything besides the copper knee sleeves I wear for warmth. Today it was to be just 60% for 5x3 with 60-90 seconds rest. Only wrist wraps, no other support stuff. Pauses for 2 seconds in the dip. These felt quite comfortable, even in the rain. I could tell though that my shoulders aren’t used to these as they were feeling fatigued just holding the bar for that long and that many sets. Just needs to condition to it and that comes back pretty quick. Next thing being log incline bench presses. But not like it has been. No pauses, no tempo but with the bands. It has been a while using the bands. Plan here was work up in sets of 3-5 reps to a top set of 5 reps (2RIR) and then drop a little bit off for 2x5. Most I’ve done with the bands on these has been 217lbs for doubles. Not ever pushing things really as they’ve been more of a speed work idea. And these feel hard as hell with the bands despite looking quite speedy on film. Felt decent with these. I kind of chickened out of going for 220lbs. I knew I’d get it for 5 reps but not guarantee with how I was feeling that it would be with plenty of reps in the tank. After smashing 215lbs, kind of felt I had it today. Dropped down to 195lbs and that felt like I had not treated it with respect that first set as it felt heavy and like it wasn’t in the right spot. I corrected that for the second set. Both looked about the same speed wise. At this point, I felt like I should go into the garage for the rest of the workout and teardown everything with the break in the weather as it appeared that it would start raining again. From there it was on to dumbbell rows again. Similar to last week with working up to 105lbs but this time doing 2x8 and then doing max reps with the downset weight from last week. Things seemed pretty good. Pushed through on the down set and kind of surprised myself getting that many reps with it. This lead right into the lateral raise superset from last week. I elected to stick to the same weight as last time since it was quite exhausting then and I wanted a little more familiarity with things before trying to go up in weight as my options for that would be limited. These controlled motions with light weight and high reps just cause such a burn by the end of the last set. Lastly was push-ups with feet elevated. Felt a little more comfortable this time around. I lost count that first set as I thought I did one more rep then I ended up doing. It was a little tricky as sometimes near the end of the set, the triceps and shoulders feel really fatigued and then they don’t. Put stuff away before eating dinner and stretching. Iced the right elbow before bed.

November 16, 2021 – Week 6, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Paused Deadlifts (2 second mid-shin, beltless)
145x3
195x3
245x3
295x3
295x3
295x3
295x3

Paused Romanian Deadlifts (2 seconds, straps, beltless)
155x5
205x5
245x3
295x3
335x3
375x12
315x12
315x12

Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”)
bwx10/10
bw+10x10/10
bw+20x10/10
bw+30x10/10

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (1 second, long holds last rep)
bwx12/12 (20 seconds)
bwx12/12 (15 seconds)
bwx12/12 (10 seconds)

Paused Standing Band Hip Adductions (1 second)/Hanging L-Sits/Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
lbx20/20 – bw+20x20 seconds – 85x20/20
lbx20/20 – bw+20x20 seconds – 85x20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: A little cautious with things as I wasn’t sure if I was going to be feeling off like the day before with the irritability. Other than my triceps yesterday I felt good. I think I felt a little better recognizing that.  Mobility warm-ups are good. Still have the tendon thing in the left leg. Just got to keep working things slowly for that, I guess. Avoid things that irritate it and tolerate what I can. So change up here with having pulls from the floor again. I needed a little bit of a break from them as they can wear me down and I was feeling beat on deadlifts after last training cycle. Only 50% with pauses for triples. No belt. I was allowed straps but I figured this was so light and with the paused pulls it wasn’t as much a problem with this kind of weight breaking off the floor or holding on. Didn’t feel quite right at the start but once I got to over two plates it started to feel crisp. These felt good form wise. Didn’t feel taxing. Right forearm was a little tense about halfway in. Not sure why. Not painful. But I wasn’t doing any other holding things really the rest of the workout. So from there on to rdls. No more eternity eccentrics and normal grip again. No belt but straps ok. Doing 2 second pauses on these. I wasn’t too sure what that would be as far as working weight as it has been a good long while since I’ve done off season with these present. I just recall it was around 335lbs or so. So my intent was to aim for that with the planned weight being something that I had 2RIR on 10-12 reps. Feel so much easier than the long eccentrics and the wide grip. Felt mechanical with these which is a good feeling. I probably could’ve done another 10lbs and still be within the parameters of the day. Dropped down to 315lbs for 2x12. Another change after that was return of FFE split squats. Only done them once I what to say last cycle when I was having the knee tendonitis real bad (where I went and got x-rays). Don’t quite have the same setup as at the gym so the step I had to elevate was 4” compared to 2”. I was not instructed to do long pauses this time around, just work at comfortable pace and weight range with slight pause. Work on getting the knee over the toe and keeping upright torso. I was also advised to start with bodyweight and adjust accordingly. I wasn’t sure how these would go but I found I didn’t need to do as much mobility stuff like I did for the walking lunges to get ready. Bodyweight was easy but adding weight on these kinds of things can be tricky. Still seemed easy enough going up 10lbs a set. Holding the weight in my hands did seem to make balance a little trickier. May see about using the back pack for next time. The copenhagen stuff was next. Same plan as last week but actually did it. 3x12. Holds on the last rep of each set. I managed to get better times overall this week compared to last. 20,15,10 vs 15,10,10. So last thing of the session was the previous superset but now with the seated calf raises added so it was now a triset. With the different things going on for each, I knew and accepted that it wasn’t going to one of those exercise sequences that flowed together. Only two runs this time. So first part being the hip adductions. Advised to do 15-20 reps. I felt that the light bands would still work here and they did. The next thing was the hanging l-sits. 20 seconds and it was strongly suggested I add weight to these. So I finally used those 10lbs ankle weights I got for their actual purpose. Holy hell was that tough. 20 seconds felt like my limit here. Lower abs working hard and my quads and hips trying to not cramp up. Then it was the seated calf raises. Stuck with the weight from last week with the goal of trying to get 20 reps. It took a bit of time to set things up so that the down time between them was minimal as well as repeating things. Second go I feel like things felt better for the most part. Like the hang felt like it wasn’t so bad or sudden. Still really tough. It had gotten pretty late so I just left the equipment out for the next day. I had ordered Neato Burrito before they closed at 6:00PM in my oven that I had bought for how good I felt on deadlifting as a reward haha. So ate my recovery burritos and stretched. Iced knees before bed.

November 15, 2021 – Week 6, Day 1

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
26’sx20/15’sx20
26’sx20/15’sx20

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
165x3
190x3
215x5
196x5

Barbell Strict Presses w/ Pause at Forehead (2 seconds, beltless)
177x5
177x7

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bwx5
bw+25x5
bw+50x15
bw+25x15
bw+25x15
bw+25x15

Feet Up Close Grip Bench Presses
45x10
75x9
105x8
135x7
165x6
195x5
225x12
225x12
225x12

Paused Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns (2 seconds)
sbx10/10
sb+abx15/15
sb+abx15/15

Paused Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds)
bwx22 PR+2 reps

Band Triceps Pressdowns/Band Biceps Curls
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20

Stretching
  
Comments: I felt like I was ok but I guess I'm stressed. Most of my new computer arrived Sunday so I spent a good chunk of that day putting it together and setting things up. The stress I think at this point is still the uncertainty with the amatuer strongman stuff and most of the "plans" being announced for 2022 and 2023 are not things I'm a fan of. Like potentially having to compete and win at 4 shows in a year to qualify for Nats. May end up being pushed out of that dream and have 2022 be my last shot. So far off and trying to not think about that but it appears that I am as my sleep Sunday night was stressful and uneasy and almost as soon as I finished work I became inexplicably irritable. Starting things off with the dumbbell raises for shoulders. It has gotten quite a bit colder out now but I figured that with how I act as a space heater when I'm active, I should be good at this temperature still. Second set still tougher but it felt more manageable. Shoulders were lit up from this. From there on to standing pressing outside in the rack. Still beltless. Plan for today was to do 215x5 and then 196x5. With how pressing was last week, I thought nothing of it. Warming up was feeling good too. But that first hard set not sure. Maybe I was distracted with how irritated I was. Shoulder power felt good but my triceps weren't on the upkeep today. I could tell after the second rep that I wasn't as strong there. First attempt at a fifth rep, I hit the rack arms and ended up with the bar way out in front and it became a standing bench press. But even at that position, my triceps just didn't want to cooperate to lockout the weight. So I had to set the bar down and go again. No problem then. I was so mad at myself for that. Wasted energy and now it could affect the other stuff for the session. Thankfully the lighter weight set went better. The pause presses after that. A bit of a change with the weight going up a good bit here. Back to two sets but the second set was an AMRAP. Before this, I was thinking good things. But after how strict pressing went and seeing that my triceps weren't attending today, I wasn't so sure. Plan was to leave 1-2RIR. I was feeling good for the second set. Pushed it a little too close as that last rep was definitely not leaving more than 1RIR. Probably closer to 0RIR. Maybe a rep if I rest paused. But it is progress as first week of these, I struggled to get 5 reps with less weight. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. No 1 second pauses this time. Just slight pauses. So the plan here was to warm-up to 50lbs added and do a max rep set with 1RIR and then drop off 25lbs and match those reps for 3 sets. I was not expecting to get as many reps as I did. 15 reps is a lot on this with weight. And taking off 25lbs isn't a lot really considering so I knew this was going to be tough to get through. Definitely had to take longer than 2 minutes rests between the down sets to let my grip and biceps recover as they were burning by the end of each set. I took longer between the second and third set so it wasn't as bad. Lot of reps. From there, it was the close grip with feet up next. Goal being 225lbs for 3x12. Didn't seem like anything after last week how this weight had felt. But that was that week and this is this week. And triceps were lacking today. Warming up didn't feel bad but light weights. My wrists were aching big time that first work set. I felt better as I went but these were a good bit tougher than I would've liked them to be. Single arm lat pulldowns again. No changes to tension. Maintain. I did just the one set to warm-up this time. Honestly, I didn't feel terribly fatigued between sides and between sets. Like I could've done these sets back to back. But I felt it was best to give myself a little bit of rest to keep quality reps on these. Back into the garage for the kettlebell balanced push ups with the long pauses and stretch. This week just one set of max reps. Kind of hoping to just match last week's top rep set with how the rest of my pressing had been this session. Things didn't start off well as at rep number 8, the kettlebell in my right hand got off balance and toppled. Never happened before on these. I think I had my grip too wide. Moved in slightly to finish out the set. Finished up with the super set of bis and tris like it has been the case. I kept the tension the same despite it being easy as I wasn't sure how my triceps would be handling things after the lackluster efforts. Probably could've gone up a little here. Put everything away before eating dinner and stretching. Iced the right elbow since that one is the one that seems to have the most tendonitis going on these days.

November 13, 2021 – Week 5, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls (2-0-2-0 tempo)
50x10
100x10
150x15
150x15
150x15

Paused Band TKEs (2 seconds)
sbx25/25

Lateral Step Downs 
bwx5/5 (14”)
bwx5/5 (14”)
bwx5/5 (20”)
bwx5/5 (20”)
bwx10/10 (26”)
bwx10/10 (28”) PR+2"

Safety Squat Bar Squats (beltless)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
275x8
300x8
325x8

Yoke (beltless)
Casual Pace
200x50’
200x50’
Normal
300x25’
300x25’
400x50’
450x50’
450x50’
450x50’
450x50’
450x50’

Reverse Band Hack Squats (LB’s)
emptyx5
+50x5
+100x5
+150x5
+200x5
+240x5
+280x15
+280x15

Lying Leg Curls
45x10
90x6
125x3
140x15
140x15

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: I essentially got up about when I would normally for work today. I felt rested enough after having a day off for the holiday. I also went to bed at a reasonable hour the night before as I was exhausted from working my ass off all day to make up for having one less day in the week for work. Got most but not everything I needed to get done. But it will be there on Monday and I’m the best damn worker there. Funny I have confidence in that having worked there since 2012 but I don’t for the sport I’ve been doing since 2008. Oh well. With this offseason stuff, I’m thinking that I need to make this a more regular thing for myself after competitions. It can take a bit of time for me to recover it seems and this break does seem to help. Just like when I first came back to training at the beginning of this year, It was around the 5 week period I felt I could compete at a decent level again and it is about that time. However, I think it will depend on the season and how abrupt the turn arounds end up being for things. Which is why it will be nice when USS and SC figure out what it is that they are doing for 2022 and beyond with the changes (that may or may not happen). Depending on things with the time allows, I think a 4-5 week stint after a show for this kind of work is good before going into a contest prep but that isn’t always an option depending on the period of time between the shows I want/need to do. I wasn’t expecting many people today even though going early as three people were competing at OSG in Florida and I knew another was going to watch. There were some people but not a lot. I had made sure I did some soft tissue work the day before. I wore compression cuff on my right arm as that has still been tense this week. Balance was the best it has ever been for the mobility stuff. Leg curls to start things off. I believe since I was getting close to the full stack for easy reps, tempo was added. I was kind of surprised it only knocked me down like 30lbs from the top set last week. Much like the band leg curls I’ve done with tempo, these get fatiguing pretty quick over the sets but still have the power. I know how important the hamstrings being ready and warm helps with knee stuff. Next thing being the TKEs. Same as last week but I keep adding to the pauses on them as this is the heaviest band tension I have for them and it just wasn’t enough to really warm up the knees/quads last week. 2 seconds did a better job. 3 seconds may be the ticket to really wake them up if programmed again. I however forgot to film these but not a big deal. Next thing being the lateral step downs. I know these are more a thing to get my hips and such warmed up and active for the other stuff but I’m enjoying the challenge of pushing things here. It is funny to me thinking that I started with 12” at the very beginning on these and now going over twice that height. Now as I get higher, the platform increments aren’t as neat as I had been able to do. So it was a little challenging to get things good as I wanted. My knees were a little achy and that could be from not doing icing after intense lower body sessions this week. Could be the weather and it could just be cumulative stuff from doing more and more each week as they have been feeling better (like moving events again). So initially I was going to only aim to do 26” for both sets but I felt compelled to try 28” on the second set for another 2” PR. I’ve noticed this last week and I think it is when I get to that point that I’m refreshed and ready to start going for competition as I’m starting to have trouble restraining myself because I’m having fun. This set I think felt better than the first. Next jump though is 32” so I may need to stick to here for a bit if required. From there it was on to ssb squats. No pauses, no tempo. But also no belt. Advised to warm-up in triples and then do 3x8 working up to 2-3RIR on the last set. A little tricky to gauge as most of my higher rep squatting hasn’t been actual back squats as of late. Been hack squats and zerchers. No belt also reminds me of how hard 340ish was for 3x5 with pauses and no belt months ago. So I figured I’d see how I was feeling. I felt that 335lbs was the max to test and 295lbs the low end. The squat rack I prefer (has even floor) was in use so I was using the less than ideal one. I mean, it is even if you use a really narrow stance. It’s not a lot but it does slightly concern me since this was the rack where I was squatting and my left knee started to give all those months ago. Not that that contributed to it. So I was a little hesitant but I was feeling pretty good. My squat form has improved a ton. I’m not bouncing off my calves like I was. 245lbs didn’t feel super confident on so I decided to do just 30lbs more for the first working set. Was going to do 20lbs jumps but convinced myself to do 25lbs. There were dogs at the gym and on both of the following sets they started fighting while I was lifting and their owners had to pull them apart. Really distracting. I just completely ignored it on the last set as I was aware it had startled me the first time it happened. Dog barks are just one of those sounds that I don’t do well with if I’m not prepared for it. On the last set, I felt like I maybe left 10lbs in the tank to still be within parameters. So good to know. From there it was on to yoke. Yoke isn’t coming up in any planned show I believe but it is an easy one to setup and work on the support muscles for other carry events. So the plan here was work up to 40-50% and do 5x50’ beltless with 60-90 seconds rest. I did ask for clarification on what working max I should be using here and was advised to use between 400-450lbs for the session. I checked the lanes before I went this time after that oopsie I had back when I did 600lbs and hit an ab wheel. The one lane was encroached upon by kegs and sandbags that people were too lazy to really put back in line/order. I wasn’t going to spend effort to move over a ton of awkward weights so I stuck to the other lane after I did my casual empty yoke walks. Knees were a little achy trying to pick up speed on 300lbs so I figured I’d do 400lbs for the work sets. I set my timer to go off every 90 seconds so kind of EMOM. 90 seconds between sets but time to recover being whatever was left after the yoke run. 400lbs felt pretty good. It was then that I realized that I had not put my camera on. So I made the split decision to do 450lbs instead. I had seen a competitor use dumbbells on a yoke like this for quick load and unload (one of those heavy holds/picks and then yoke run) so that seemed the quickest way to do it. It works haha. These felt pretty good. Hack squats after that. Same as it has been as far as setup and warming up. I did manage to secure the hand towels for padding a bit better so as to minimize the handles digging into my upper back. Plan was to do 2x15 with 3-4RIR. These get exhausting doing the slow and steady reps here so hard to gauge. Had to talk myself down from trying 300lbs here (you just did 300’ of yoke runs, this is usually before event work and you aren’t going for broke). This was the right call as these were quite tough by the end of the second set. From there it was more leg curls. Lying style. I was told to do 2x15 with 3-4RIR. I went for the lighter side of things as I knew that this style puts more stress on the tendons that I irritated back at the beginning of this training cycle. The good news is that these didn’t bother me very much warming up which wasn’t the case last time I did these. So this is getting better but progress is slow. Working weight was pretty easy but it was irritating the left leg so I didn’t push any heavier. Last item of the session was quad fallbacks. Same as it has been the past few weeks. I feel like these felt better compared to last week as I didn’t inadvertently take a long break after my last exercise. Stretched before driving home.

November 11, 2021 – Week 5, Day 3

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)
lb’sx20/µbx20
lb’sx20/µbx20

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
87x10
102x9
117x8
127x7
137x6
147x5
157x4
167x3
200x13
170x13
170x13
170x13

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
40’sx5
60’sx5
75’sx5
90’sx5
105’sx10 PR+10lbs
85’sx10
85’sx10

Bench Dips (Feet Elevated)
bwx5
bwx5
bw+45x12
bw+45x12
bw+45x23 PR+11 reps

RP Style Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15

Feet Elevated (17”) Push-ups (3-3-0-0 tempo)
bwx16
bwx14

Stretching
 
Comments: Kind of needed the break of a midweek holiday. So much that needed to still be done but I needed a break to recharge and just know that I would have to work my ass off the next day to get most of what I needed to get done at work done. Day off meant I could sleep in a little and workout earlier. Kind of had to workout earlier as I scheduled a dentist appointment in the afternoon and I’d rather not do a late training session with the expectation of a ton work the next day. Joints were a little achy feeling setting things up. Not sure if that was just because earlier than usual for training this session or since not doing as much soft tissue work. Starting point of the session was bands superset. Pec flyes with pull-aparts. First set isn’t bad but the second set of these gets tough. How it has been and apparently how it always will be. I did notice that on the pull-aparts that I felt I had more agency/mobility in the chest. The cue for these has always been to pull apart and try to stretch the chest but I feel like I could actually do that and get a greater stretch. This could also be from doing all those kettlebell push-ups with stretches to open the shoulders up. Next thing being log incline bench presses. I was advised that I could go back to normal eccentrics but to still keep a slight pause on the chest. Pyramid warm-ups and then a max rep set with 200lbs. It felt heavier than I expected it would. I’ve done more in the past but not with this form. These are definitely with better control. Other times it has been kind of a drop press and using that momentum to essentially bounce off the chest. And wearing wrist wraps. That had been during that first training cycle this year and had the pause pressing to fill in the gaps. In any case, I was expecting more with the negatives being normal again but I hit the minimum that I was ok with. This was going to be rough as the plan was to then do 30lbs less for 3 sets of the same reps. So 3x13. I did my best to keep rests around 2 minutes so I’m happy with that at least. From there it was on to dumbbell rows again. Similar to two weeks prior in that work up to max reps with a weight and then do matching rep sets with less weight. Usually no set weight in those circumstances and then the drop is percentage based. This time, top weight was set at 105lbs and then 20lbs off for two down sets. Started heavier on my warm-ups than last week and took smarter jumps I guess. These seemed to go better than last week with how they felt. Seemed to get a little bit better at the rest periods this time around. Bench dips were after that. I’m not sure what happened here. Every session, the first set with bodyweight has felt ridiculously tough compared to how it feels when warmed up. And I’ve been doing 2x10 for a few weeks now as prep to get the blood going and have all the joints warmed up. But this time, I felt raring to go on the first set so I kept it to the minimum reps. No sense wasting going reps on warm-ups. So for today, the plan was 3 sets with 45lbs added, doing 2x12 and then a max rep set. Felt really easy. Had to double check after the max rep set as I was pretty much getting into the 25 rep range here. Change up to the shoulder superset this time around. Seems to be what I’m doing as the first exercise pairing on my Day 1 workouts but slightly different. 3x15 for each and advised to control the weight down. The laterals it indicated to do them “RP” but it didn’t mean “Rest Pause” which is usually how that’s marked. Turns out it was “Renaissance Periodization” and it was to lift the dumbbells above parallel to the ground as that program indicates. The bent over style were also to have slight pauses. With that all taken into consideration, I used the 10lbs dumbbells as I figured this would be very fatiguing. And I was right. These were very tough by the end. Lastly was push-ups. Change up here with them being tempo with my feet elevated. Really wasn’t sure what to expect here. Like most push-up variations I seem to be assigned to do, they feel weird at first, then good, then get extremely hard after like 10 reps. I took a bit longer between sets just to make sure I was good as sometimes I push too hard the first set and leave myself unable to really do much the second set. Finished up with stretching after putting stuff away. Just enough time to make it to the dentist appointment. I fill the time.

November 9, 2021 – Week 5, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Wide Grip Romanian Deadlifts (5 seconds negative, straps, no hard belt)
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3
325x8
325x8
295x13

Safety Squat Bar Zercher Squats

65x5
115x5
155x5
205x10
205x10
205x13

Walking Lunges
bwx15/15
bwx15/15

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (1 second, long holds last rep)
bwx10/10 (15 seconds)
bwx10/10 (10 seconds)
bwx10/10 (10 seconds)

Paused Standing Band Hip Adductions (1 second)/Hanging L-Sits
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds

Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
65x3/3
85x18/18
85x17/17

Stretching
  
Comments: Hoping that this workout won’t take as long as last week now that I know a bit about how things are going to play out. Trying to keep focused on work and training. Mobility warm-ups are good. Still have the tendon thing in the left leg. Wide grip rdls with 5 second eccentrics and brief pauses again. Now it was supposed to be normal grip this week and last on these but I misread things and did them wide grip last week. Since this week was based off of those numbers, I stuck to wide grip again. This is the last week of these particular pulls so it works out. Feeling pretty good as far as upper body. Lower body and lower back were certainly feeling fatigue but not bad. Top weight felt decent with reps in the tank but I could tell these were tough by the end. Rep set was with 30lbs less. I had a feeling that I’d be around 15 reps. I chalked up my hands to keep the straps and hands secure. I may need to rephrase as it is grip but it is mostly the upper back and forearms getting fatigued, with the upper back wearing down so that it is more burden on the grip and forearms. Lower body was feeling fatigue as well at this point as well as my ability to keep a brace. I’m actually not 100% certain if I did 13 or 14 reps but will never know as I forgot to record that set. I thought I had when I was applying chalk but I guess not. From there it was on to the zercher squats. This time doing working sets with 205lbs for all of them. 2x10 and then max reps leaving several in the tank. I was advised to adjust the weight if I felt it was too light and I’d do over 15 reps with several in the tank. That wasn’t going to be a problem. The weight may not be heavy but these are lung busters for me and doing several sets with the top weight from last week was taxing. Especially trying to keep to 2 minutes rests. I’m not really in real squat for higher rep shape. It has been mostly 3’s and 5’s. No belt. Controlled movement. Trying to not cheat the movement like I know I can to move a lot of weight. That isn’t the point or intent. This is to work and have quality of movement. Trying to make this more automatic as opposed to being like two actions. Trying really hard to control the bar with my upper body and back to adjust as I sink into the hole to keep from having it rest on my thighs. I was really getting out of breath on these. Kind of fatigued from the reps rather than the weight if that makes sense. Into the streets for lunges. All the lights and caution stuff as per usual. Really needed it with the fall back an hour stuff as it is darker out. These were adjusted to be just two sets but 30 steps total per set as opposed to 24 steps. Makes a difference. Trying to control and lengthen the strides. Getting a little winded from these too. Dang it, thought I was better than this with my conditioning. Into the garage for the copenhagen stuff. I messed up on these. See they were to be 1ct holds and doing 3x12 with a long hold on the last rep of each set (RPE 8, whatever that would be for a hold). I misread it to be 3x10. I still feel that this was enough difficulty and it was for me. Just need to remember to do it right next time. Superset of standing band hip adductions and hanging l-sits again. These weren’t quicker or I should say smoother this time. There was a bit of a break between the supersets last week as I was still adjusting to the shorter period (as I was getting some rest going to the patio and back). Cut down on the rest to a minimum here (none between 1st and 2nd set, maybe 30 seconds for the last set). I increased the band tension for the adductions to a light band. I thought that might have been a bit much but it felt good so I went for it. Last thing for the evening was again the single leg seated calf raises. These weren’t as bad with the changes made as far as a time suck. Tempo inverted but reduced from 5 to 3. I was advised to go heavier and I should be able to with the reduced hold times. I was advised to try an axle in the rack as plates were going to become cumbersome. I figured that the ssb would work great with the padding, the camber and the sides for the leg. Worked great. I started with the left side as I thought that was the weaker side. I may have been wrong. It would appear that my left side for seated work has less endurance but is constant regardless of the weight. The fatigue factor with the 45lbs last week vs the 85lbs this week was about the same. Right side definitely struggling some with the increased weight. But I made it work. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

November 8, 2021 – Week 5, Day 1

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
26’sx20/15’sx20
26’sx20/15’sx20

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
160x3
185x3
210x3
210x3
210x8

Barbell Strict Presses w/ Pause at Forehead (2 seconds, beltless)
165x5
165x5
165x5

Paused Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings, 1 second)
bwx5
bw+20x5
bw+45x8
bw+45x8
bw+45x8
bwx8

Feet Up Close Grip Bench Presses
45x10
85x9
125x8
155x7
185x6
215x5
240x8
240x8
225x17 PR+20lbs

Paused Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns (2 seconds)
sbx5/5
sbx5/5
sb+abx15/15
sb+abx15/15

Paused Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds)
bwx20 PR+2 reps
bwx17

Band Triceps Pressdowns/Band Biceps Curls
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20

Stretching
  
Comments: Not enjoying this change in the time. Even darker out when I train now. Upper body felt tight and little off on the left side. Not sure what that is about. Slept too good? I’ll admit I’ve been a little lax with the soft tissue work but I haven’t felt like I needed it the last week so… but whatever. Just hoping that it isn’t something that will keep me from pushing forward. It won’t. Just going to be head stuff that does I feel. A lot of things up in the air with amateur strongman and it is frustrating. I don’t like being so uncertain for so long. Just have to focus on the important things. Or I guess the things that require immediacy. Starting things off with the dumbbell raises for shoulders. As mentioned, not getting any easier. Felt pretty good that first set but felt a ton harder on the second set. Had me thinking that maybe they are fatiguing faster from not doing the soft tissue work. From there on to standing pressing outside in the rack. Still beltless. I was advised to stick to the rest breaks despite having a max rep set after the first two sets. Stuff was feeling really good working up. So easy feeling on these. I stopped at 8 reps on the max rep set as I felt that I was getting more of a standing incline press to get things and that is when the reps get iffy and hard to tell if they will fly up or stall spectacularly. I feel 10 reps was a possibility. My strict pressing has been down a good bit for a while so this was really cool to see. The pause presses after that. Felt better on my core this time. These can be quite tricky as they can feel easy one rep and then the worst thing ever. Very sensitive to bar path and position. Which is probably while I got to do them. Seeing as how 210lbs rockets up. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. Working sets with 45lbs added with holds. 3x8. Not bad but these get tough quick. First set no problem and last set with the weight felt like I’d been fighting off something to keep going. Hopefully I interpreted things right and I was to take a normal rest between the sets for the last one without weight. Close grip with feet up next. Going up a bit but not a ton. Again, it is hard to gauge on these as I seem to be able to rep a ton but could be harder actually going up in weight. Balance just felt slightly off. Maybe I was too far down or something. Left side was the one that seemed to be not balanced. 240lbs felt decently tough. Maybe I was holding back slightly for the rep set. I sometimes subconsciously do that. 225lbs felt like nothing. And despite hitting the rack like three times still did fairly comfortable 17 reps. Butt came up on the last one because I really hit the rack and I just didn’t want to mess with things anymore. I feel I have 20 reps here but the goal is always to be leaving reps in the tank if I can. Single arm lat pulldowns again. Same tension as last time. These can be quite tough. I did do two sets to warm up but with less reps. Just back and forth between sides to see if that worked well enough. Left side does appear stronger but not necessarily less fatiguing. Inside for push-ups. Long holds again. Opening up the shoulders. I wasn’t expecting to get as high as I did seeing as how I did all the reps beforehand and that last weeks other push-up exercise didn’t see an improvement in reps. 20 reps was fairly comfortable. Just stopped there. I had maybe another rep before it got to the same level of difficulty and reps left as I felt on the second set. Bands to finish the evening for the pump set. Just keeping these the same as it would start to get complicated altering these. Ate way too spicy food for dinner and stretched.

November 6, 2021 – Week 4, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x10
140x15
160x15
180x15

Paused Band TKEs (1 second)
sbx25/25

Lateral Step Downs 
bwx5/5 (12”)
bwx5/5 (12”)
bwx5/5 (16”)
bwx5/5(20”)
bwx10/10(24”)
bwx10/10 (26”)

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (2 seconds)
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x3
315x3
365x8
310x8
310x8

Reverse Band Hack Squats (LB’s)
emptyx5
+50x5
+100x5
+150x5
+200x5
+250x5
+300x10
+300x10
+300x10

Bent Over Barbell Rows
45x5
95x5
145x5
195x5
245x5
295x10
Added Straps

325x10
325x10

Sandbag Carries (turns at 50’)
200x100’
200x100’
250x100’
306x100’ in 19.50 seconds
306x100’ in 19.36 seconds
306x100’ in 19.78 seconds

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: Woke up at a reasonable hour today but I still seemed to take my time to get out to go train. I’m not too sure what the delay was. A lot of little kiddos at the gym when I got there. Most of them thankfully were gone before I got to the more serious training in the session. Really only two kids that show up that are not a danger to everyone when they are there haha. Mobility stuff to warm up felt better good. Can’t really use my balance (or lack thereof) to see how things are. No real rhyme or reason to it. Just have to focus on what feels on and off. So starting things off with seated leg curls. Started heavier for the warm-ups and did a bit more. Felt like I had less discomfort in the whatever I aggravated back at the start of this off season training. Started with the same weight as last time but my plan was to do bigger jumps. Last session, this weight had felt like too much to start but then by the end the 10lbs jumps weren’t really doing it. So 20lbs jumps here. Even with that, I think still a little shy of hitting the higher difficulty range on these. Also have to remember that this machine maxes out at 200lbs so this may end up being relegated to a pump warm up. Next was band TKEs. Advised to do a set of 15-25 to get some blood flow. Used the heaviest band tension on these. These were nothing, even with a pause for my left leg and a bit challenging for the right leg (knee discomfort). I feel like for these to really do much for me, I’d need to do good bit more reps or much longer holds. I say this as I feel these don’t really warm up the knees for the next exercise which was the lateral step downs. I was glad the rugrats weren’t here at this point as last time they were and I was doing these, they were kicking exercise balls and hit the box I was on twice. Knees feel like crap at the start on these. I did an extra set of reps for the lowest block as I’m realizing that it’s the knee bend that needs the focus as it is the part that aches when not warmed up and pumped with blood. So the plan for this was again 2x10 with bodyweight. Didn’t have to go crazy or anything on these. I just told myself that if 24” was easy again, I’d try 26” on the second set. And honestly, they felt about the same but did notice that the higher box was slightly more fatiguing. So from there it was on to ssb pause squats. 2 seconds for this week. Work up in triples to a top set of 6-8 (1-2RIR) and then drop down 15% for 2 matching rep sets. Squats are weird for me. I tend to underestimate what I can do sometime sand other times overestimate. It’s one of those exercises you don’t want to miss a rep because you will be crushed. My knees still do get achy but at least they haven’t felt like they are going to explode for weeks now so happy about that. I wasn’t too sure what I was going to get up to here and I felt that if I did 25-45 jumps, I’d undershoot it by a lot or end up fatiguing myself too much and know I’m not going to make the next jump and come up short taking a smaller jump attempting to not go too light on this. I haven’t gone over 320lbs on lower body stuff until this week essentially. I figured I had 350lbs but felt it made more sense to 50lbs jumps. 315lbs felt pretty darn good. So I thought I could do 355lbs. Ended up talking myself up to do 50lbs increase so it was 365lbs. In this case, that worked out for me (and it usually does on squats) as it fit the parameters. Drop down to 310lbs for 2x8. Felt comfortable. On to reverse band hack squats. 3x10 with 300lbs added. 50lbs jumps here as well to warm-up. I may need to play around with how I put the hand towels over the hand holds on the top to keep from having them dig into my back at times. Minor nuisance. I’m getting better at these as I think this was the first week where I felt I could keep the rests to about 2 minutes on these whereas that wasn’t possible before. Bent over rows returned this week. Plan here was to work up to a top set of 8-10 reps (1-2RIR) without straps going up in 5’s and then add weight if needed and put on the straps and do 2x10 with 2-3RIR. For whatever reason, I like doing these with the bumper plates. Not sure why I do. It is always neat to see what I can do on stuff when I don’t have to slow down and hold. I had figured that 275lbs was what I’d be doing here and then 305lbs for the strapped sets. But I felt pretty strong and did 50lbs jumps to 295lbs. And I feel it may have been too easy. I was kind of surprised with the grip seeing as how I was having issues with forearm and upper back fatigue on the paused dumbbell rows and wide grip rdls but I guess that is more of a time under tension thing as that is like twice as long as this set took to do. Now my intent had been to just do 315lbs for the 2x10 as I knew that 325lbs was near my 10rm on these. But I couldn’t math and did it for both sets. Not quite as easy as I’d like for it to be with 2-3RIR but it was certainly 2RIR territory. So the next thing was sandbag carries. 3x100’ with a moderate bag and advised to keep rests 90-120 seconds. Left hamstring was feeling sore and beat. It had been on the rows. I wasn’t sure if it was from the leg thing or just this workout. If it was more than soreness and something felt off, I’d shut it down. I didn’t feel any issues walking with light weight out in front (as I was putting away bumper plates) so the issue if any would be with picking up the sandbags. I wasn’t too sure what I’d be using. I really wanted to use 306lbs. Not a light sandbag but it can feel comfortable when I’m on point. I figured I’d do 200lbs and see. Ugh, that first run with it felt like crap. It felt heavy and I felt slow. My hope here was that I was just not used to it and fatigued from all the other stuff. It was better on a second run but not enough that I was thinking of even doing 306lbs. So 250lbs was my plan. This actually felt really comfortable so I figured, why not try 306lbs? If it sucks, just forget it and do two more runs with 250lbs. Oh, that 306lbs felt good. I was recovering well between sets and really it was only the pick and lap that was slowing down or fatiguing between sets as I felt my stride was getting better each run. Grouping of times were really close. Not all out speed but near top. About 2 seconds off my best time but I’m not concerned about it. I know that it comes back and this was after a lot of heavy leg work. Hell first week back I felt like crap trying to walk with the 100lbs plates putting them away after sled drag and noticed it was really comfortable the next week. I took a bit of chat break with Brian after that as I had just one thing left and it was those quad fallbacks. I knew what to expect I guess as far as having to do a little stretching and letting myself get used to the left leg not liking getting into position initially. Decided I’d stay at the gym to stretch out before driving home.

November 4, 2021 – Week 4, Day 3

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)
lb’sx20/µbx20
lb’sx20/µbx20

12” Log Incline Bench Presses (3 seconds eccentrics)
87x10
97x9
107x8
117x7
127x6
137x5
147x4
157x3
190x8
190x8
160x8 
Cluster Sets (15-20 seconds rest)
160x4
160x4
160x4
160x4

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
25’sx5
40’sx5
60’sx5
80’sx5
95’sx10
95’sx9
95’sx8/10 kelso shrugs 

Bench Dips (Feet Elevated)
bwx10
bwx10
bw+35x15
bw+35x15
bw+35x15

Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Paused Band Face Pulls (2 seconds)
27x15/15 – abx15
27x15/15 – abx15
27x21:9/21:9 – abx15 (rest pause 10-15 seconds)

Close Grip Push-ups (3 second negatives)
bw+26x15
bwx17

Stretching
 
Comments: Issues with editing the previous sessions training. Not sure when new computer is coming. Hopefully that will fix things. If not, I’ll be stumped honestly. Wednesday was a nice break to the monotony. Starting point of the session was bands superset. Pec flyes with pull-aparts. First set isn’t bad but the second set of these gets tough. I want to say that these felt the least fatiguing so far. So on to log incline bench presses. Still doing 3 second eccentrics. A little bit different with today. Same working up that I’ve been doing at this point to get that volume in and then working sets with 10lbs more than last week on two heavier sets and then 160lbs again. But the change after that was to do cluster sets with that weight to essentially get 16 reps total. I felt my endurance would be pretty good today after the bands but had some doubts with the working up on the log. Got through those three sets with the 2 minutes or so rest. Would be interesting to see how the clusters went. They were pretty easy. My recovery between the set was good .From there it was on to dumbbell rows again. Same but different. Work up in 5’s to 95lbs for the dumbbells and do three sets of max reps with 2RIR. I’ll admit these were tougher than I expected them to be. But to be fair, I believe I was taking a lot longer rests on these last week with it being a top set and then down sets. The slow tempo (not any set one but controlled) and the holds certainly adds up for the forearms. I went with 2 minutes rests here and I think that did bring down the reps a bit as the expected had been more like 12 reps or so for that first set. Also right lat just feels “off”. No pain or anything but doesn’t seem to be “present”. My proprioception doesn’t match the left side. Movement seems fine and no restrictions. Just “feels” different. Last set I was advised to do 5-10 “kelso shrugs” (or near failure) with the weight. I had to set it down after the rows and then regripped the dumbbells. It has been a long ass time since I’ve done these “shrugs”. Today seemed to be a day of doing little extras to extend the sets at the end of the exercises. Am I for it. Bench dips were after that. Same situation as far as the warming up sets. First set feels a good bit tougher and then the next one easy. Back pack makes these good bit easier to setup. Triceps get fatigued and pumped so lockouts feel hard near the end. But hard to gauge how many reps in reserve really. There isn’t really a point in these where I’m at rest when supporting my entire bodyweight weight to safely chance a rep I guess as well. Leaning side laterals with band face pulls again. Plan here was another small increase on the side laterals and aim for a longer hold time on the face pulls. The added twist to this was on the last set with the laterals. Do a max rep set and then rest pause another set. So was not sure how that was going to go. Left side is definitely the shoulder/side that gives out first on these. I figured that I’d go all in on that side and just match it with the other side. I was kind of surprised that I was able to get so many reps after just 13 second at most rest. This offseason I think has been good for me as I’m noticing less aches and pains. Finishing up with the close grip push-ups with the accentuated eccentrics. Same weights and sets as last time. It was a struggle to match the reps from last week. At least didn’t fall back on any. Have to keep in mind that I did a lot more reps on stuff leading up to these and I probably stuck to stricter rest periods between the sets compared to last time. Put stuff away and ate a tasty Mississippi roast before stretching and getting to bed.