Mobility Prep
Single Leg Squats to Box (18”)
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
Single Leg Squats to Box (18”)
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
bwx8/8
Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x6
385x6
385x6
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x3
245x3
295x3
335x3
385x6
385x6
385x6
Frame Carries
Titan Fitness (16”)
Casual Pace
115x50’
115x50’
Makeshift (18”)
Normal
276x50’
366x50’
456x25’
BiggDogg Strongg (20”, 1.5” handles)
Titan Fitness (16”)
Casual Pace
115x50’
115x50’
Makeshift (18”)
Normal
276x50’
366x50’
456x25’
BiggDogg Strongg (20”, 1.5” handles)
568x15’
568x50’ in 8.84 seconds
568x50’ in 8.90 seconds
Added Straps
618x50’ in 9.27 seconds
618x50’ in 9.66 seconds
568x15’
568x50’ in 8.84 seconds
568x50’ in 8.90 seconds
Added Straps
618x50’ in 9.27 seconds
618x50’ in 9.66 seconds
568x15’
Sandbag Shoulderings
175x1/1
200x1/1
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
175x1/1
200x1/1
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
200x1 R
Lying Leg Curls (up with 2, down with 1, 5 seconds eccentrics)
25x10(5/5)
50x8(4/4)
75x6(3/3)
95x4(2/2)
115x12(6/6)
115x16(5/5)
115x12(5/5)
25x10(5/5)
50x8(4/4)
75x6(3/3)
95x4(2/2)
115x12(6/6)
115x16(5/5)
115x12(5/5)
Backwards “Sled” Drags (Exer-Genie)
12x60’
12x60’
12x60’
12x60’
12x60’
12x60’
Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
Stretching
Comments: I was a little anxious for today’s training. Knees have been achy all this week (especially the right one) and I haven’t been great with time management to do icing for my knees after days requiring lower body drive. I was at least making sure I was doing walks and soft tissue work though. Meant to get up at my usual work time to get ready to train but decided to get an extra 45 minutes of sleep. With the weather as it has been, there was heavy fog for a good portion of the drive out to the gym. Sound system input seemed to be working so able to have tunes again haha. Mobility stuff was changed up slightly for today. B-stance rdls coming back again. I felt pretty comfortable with these. Other stuff was good too. As for the actual workout, first thing being single leg squats to box. As has been the case for the past two weeks, plan here 3x8 with bodyweight only. I figured I’d do 18” again. I was advised to stick to something that would be RPE7-7.5. Knees were aching pretty bad but I didn’t want to be using knee sleeves for these considering I didn’t need to the past two weeks. First week was higher box. Second week I did need to do some warming up to feel ready. This week I just went right in, thinking that I’d be plenty warm by the end of it. As it usually the case here, the first set was the toughest one and after that they felt a lot better. I am noticing that with these I think more so than when I was doing the lateral step downs that my entire body braces and becomes rigid as I can feel tension in my upper back on the opposite side. From there, it was SSB squats. This was also an exercise I was nervous about. One being my knees were being fussy and the other being that I felt I underperformed last week. I had told myself that it must be that the bar camber isn’t quite right (or is at least different) compared to the one at the strongman gym as it felt harder. Also just felt like at home that there was more forward push and knee stress with that bar when it came to squats. But I wasn’t sure and 100% convinced on that. Maybe I’m just getting to the point I need to deload on the squats. Other than the knees aching, things seemed to be moving like they should. Plan for the day was to do triples up to 385x3x6. This was of course on the assumption that I was right about the difference in the ssb at home vs the gym, seeing as how 385lbs was a tough set of 6 reps last week. I was to report back RIR after that last set. I got my sets. I might have wanted that first set to feel easier than it did considering things. Still by the end, my knees seemed to have forgiven me and that felt the most comfortable on the knees. Felt like I had 2-3RIR there. I’m thinking that estimates on 1rm for this exercise have to be kind of disregarded I think as while the legs may feel up to it, the weak link is going to be the midsection with the bar position. So with how things felt today and considering how things went last week, my weight of 425lbs would’ve probably been too difficult for the plan at the time. Then on to the event stuff. First up was something I was looking forward to. Kind of. So for the contest, the event is frame carry. 750lbs for 40’ and straps allowed. This is Mike Jenkins old frame. Not one that he just used or trained on at another gym, but one that was custom built for him. Overbuilt is a good word to describe it. 568lbs empty and has 1.5” thick handles that are smooth. The handle thickness was an error as the handles are a lot thicker than they were for Arnold frame it was supposed to mimic. So Jenkins would do runs with and without straps and luckily one of the years was frame with straps. But with that weight and size, this thing isn’t exactly newbie friendly. It takes up a lot of space hardly anyone uses it. Sits in the corner collecting dust. So it would need some working up to. So I used other setups to get ready. Used a titan fitness frame just go get stuff light (4” lower pick height than frame) and then went to a makeshift frame using connectors and I beam farmer’s that were made many years ago (2” lower pick height than frame). I was kind of surprised to see that the one set (the gym has 2, one 16” and the other 18”) had one of the loading pins sheared off. Not sure who or what did that as they’ve been in use since 2016 and have seen hundreds of pounds loaded on them with no issue. So my plan had been to just do 25’ runs after the initial 50’ run with the empty makeshift frame but I forgot and did 50’ run. Probably was a good idea to do that as the uneven loading made the frame quite unsteady. I didn’t want to do too much here as I was going to have to expend effort on the big frame later. As I mentioned, it just sits in the corner. I was going to need to move it outside as no way was this safe on the turf and I was not going to be able to move it into the area with the farmer’s and yoke. Leaving it there would take up space for people using those lanes later. So I’d need to move it a little bit to get it started. Thing feels so damn heavy. 15’ got it in the right spot. Now the actual session for this had been put as 500lbs,560lbs for 50’ with no straps and then 610lbs for 2 sets of 50’ with straps. I had told Drew that with how this frame was that I was going to modify that as if I did way, it’d only be using the actual frame for the last two sets and be training lower pick height and thinner handles with anything under 568lbs. So the change was going to be 568lbs for 2 sets of 50’ without straps and then 618lbs for 2 sets of 50’ with straps. It has been over 2yrs since I last touched this frame and probably also the last time anyone touched it to be honest. It felt heavy but seemed to move well. It makes such a loud sound when it hits the ground. Grip felt fine. I feel that I could probably do contest weight by show time without straps but got to train that. I’ve never done runs with frame with straps before. I’ve done picks and such for prep and contests. I know that sometimes there can be issues with the mind/muscle connection. I think that is more prevalent with figure 8 straps vs normal straps as I felt fine with these. I could feel that my picks were tough on these and were getting more so as I went. Felt harder than it was 2yrs ago. But I have to remember that that wasn’t after a ton of heavy squats. All runs ended up being under 10 seconds. Good bit of effort to put stuff away as I had to carry it back inside. Sandbag shouldering was next. Listed plan was to do 200lbs for 10 lifts alternating sides and to do so with 45-60 seconds rest. I figured that EMOM was going to be the easiest thing here to do and meet that criteria. I had some concerns. The plan here was to do something light for form work so that next time (this appears to be a weekly event from what I’m gathering since I’m new to it) the intensity can be higher. So that means lighter bag. But lighter bag means usually smaller or floppy. I was also worried that this weight sandbag might be one that had been damaged recently and wasn’t replaced or repaired. So in the event of that, I was told to something between 175lbs and 225lbs. So good news was the 200lbs was still there but it did have a leaking hole in the top that wasn’t really covered well with duct tape. I did a single each side with two bags to warm up and it seemed like it would hold up assuming I didn’t just be an ass about controlling it down. It is frustrating to see equipment that I’ve used for years showing damage and wear and tear from what I can only assume are people not treating things with respect or controlling things. Though I’m not blameless in that either as I did end up having the seam on that one 250lbs sandbag burst on me when I tossed it off the water barrel right before my last show. So things happen. But I always repair or replace things like that ASAP. I tried patching things up with more duct tape but it wasn’t working I could tell after 2 lifts and I ditched it. If anything, it was distracting me and causing me to pull too much with the arms. It seemed that as long as I had it standing up, the sandbag was ok and minimal leakage. Other than some hesitancy on the first few, these seemed to go better form wise for me. Less thinking required to do the movement. After the event specific stuff was done, it was on to the finishing up stuff. 2 up and 1 down leg curls after that. Same long negatives on these as has been the case. 10lbs more from last time. The previous week was to be similar but due to the gym being closed, I had to do other stuff at home which wasn’t as effective. So I kind of knew these would suffer a little bit. Left side still has that discomfort but it seems to be more tolerable or less than it has been. Still got a long way to go. However, that doesn’t keep it from being my stronger hamstring apparently. So what seems fine for that side is a struggle for the right leg. I went for just the minimum after seeing how much trouble my right leg was having matching the left. Not to say that the minimum reps wasn’t a good workout. These are never not tough. Backwards “sled” drags with the exer-genie after that. Plan here being 3 sets of 7-8 RPE with somewhat short rests. I figured I could pick up where I left off last time and use the top weight for all three sets. That didn’t work out how I thought it would. Granted, I did get thing setup fairly quickly and not have the lead line catch on anything but that first set was really tough. Took over a minute to finish 60’ but I didn’t stop once, just slow going. I may need to do lighter effort sets in the future to warm up the device. I say this as the second set was how I was expecting things to feel and did that in under 40 seconds. Third set though was back to first set toughness almost. It seems that how I have the lead line coiled also plays a factor. So need to be consistent with lead line placement and maybe warm-up the thing a little. Last item for the session being the usual quad fallbacks. 2x12 as has been the case. Knees were stiff and legs were tight. I felt better on the second set of these. Similar to the one leg squat to boxes, it might benefit me doing a few reps to get ready before doing the actual work sets for things to feel better. But hard to say if worth it if it just ends up being more work and effort expended for the same effect. Took a few moments to collect my thoughts and then stretched out (I was viciously attacked with doggy smooches during this at my most vulnerable) and drove home. I was going to make sure I iced my knees twice before bed so that I wasn’t kept up.
Comments: I was a little anxious for today’s training. Knees have been achy all this week (especially the right one) and I haven’t been great with time management to do icing for my knees after days requiring lower body drive. I was at least making sure I was doing walks and soft tissue work though. Meant to get up at my usual work time to get ready to train but decided to get an extra 45 minutes of sleep. With the weather as it has been, there was heavy fog for a good portion of the drive out to the gym. Sound system input seemed to be working so able to have tunes again haha. Mobility stuff was changed up slightly for today. B-stance rdls coming back again. I felt pretty comfortable with these. Other stuff was good too. As for the actual workout, first thing being single leg squats to box. As has been the case for the past two weeks, plan here 3x8 with bodyweight only. I figured I’d do 18” again. I was advised to stick to something that would be RPE7-7.5. Knees were aching pretty bad but I didn’t want to be using knee sleeves for these considering I didn’t need to the past two weeks. First week was higher box. Second week I did need to do some warming up to feel ready. This week I just went right in, thinking that I’d be plenty warm by the end of it. As it usually the case here, the first set was the toughest one and after that they felt a lot better. I am noticing that with these I think more so than when I was doing the lateral step downs that my entire body braces and becomes rigid as I can feel tension in my upper back on the opposite side. From there, it was SSB squats. This was also an exercise I was nervous about. One being my knees were being fussy and the other being that I felt I underperformed last week. I had told myself that it must be that the bar camber isn’t quite right (or is at least different) compared to the one at the strongman gym as it felt harder. Also just felt like at home that there was more forward push and knee stress with that bar when it came to squats. But I wasn’t sure and 100% convinced on that. Maybe I’m just getting to the point I need to deload on the squats. Other than the knees aching, things seemed to be moving like they should. Plan for the day was to do triples up to 385x3x6. This was of course on the assumption that I was right about the difference in the ssb at home vs the gym, seeing as how 385lbs was a tough set of 6 reps last week. I was to report back RIR after that last set. I got my sets. I might have wanted that first set to feel easier than it did considering things. Still by the end, my knees seemed to have forgiven me and that felt the most comfortable on the knees. Felt like I had 2-3RIR there. I’m thinking that estimates on 1rm for this exercise have to be kind of disregarded I think as while the legs may feel up to it, the weak link is going to be the midsection with the bar position. So with how things felt today and considering how things went last week, my weight of 425lbs would’ve probably been too difficult for the plan at the time. Then on to the event stuff. First up was something I was looking forward to. Kind of. So for the contest, the event is frame carry. 750lbs for 40’ and straps allowed. This is Mike Jenkins old frame. Not one that he just used or trained on at another gym, but one that was custom built for him. Overbuilt is a good word to describe it. 568lbs empty and has 1.5” thick handles that are smooth. The handle thickness was an error as the handles are a lot thicker than they were for Arnold frame it was supposed to mimic. So Jenkins would do runs with and without straps and luckily one of the years was frame with straps. But with that weight and size, this thing isn’t exactly newbie friendly. It takes up a lot of space hardly anyone uses it. Sits in the corner collecting dust. So it would need some working up to. So I used other setups to get ready. Used a titan fitness frame just go get stuff light (4” lower pick height than frame) and then went to a makeshift frame using connectors and I beam farmer’s that were made many years ago (2” lower pick height than frame). I was kind of surprised to see that the one set (the gym has 2, one 16” and the other 18”) had one of the loading pins sheared off. Not sure who or what did that as they’ve been in use since 2016 and have seen hundreds of pounds loaded on them with no issue. So my plan had been to just do 25’ runs after the initial 50’ run with the empty makeshift frame but I forgot and did 50’ run. Probably was a good idea to do that as the uneven loading made the frame quite unsteady. I didn’t want to do too much here as I was going to have to expend effort on the big frame later. As I mentioned, it just sits in the corner. I was going to need to move it outside as no way was this safe on the turf and I was not going to be able to move it into the area with the farmer’s and yoke. Leaving it there would take up space for people using those lanes later. So I’d need to move it a little bit to get it started. Thing feels so damn heavy. 15’ got it in the right spot. Now the actual session for this had been put as 500lbs,560lbs for 50’ with no straps and then 610lbs for 2 sets of 50’ with straps. I had told Drew that with how this frame was that I was going to modify that as if I did way, it’d only be using the actual frame for the last two sets and be training lower pick height and thinner handles with anything under 568lbs. So the change was going to be 568lbs for 2 sets of 50’ without straps and then 618lbs for 2 sets of 50’ with straps. It has been over 2yrs since I last touched this frame and probably also the last time anyone touched it to be honest. It felt heavy but seemed to move well. It makes such a loud sound when it hits the ground. Grip felt fine. I feel that I could probably do contest weight by show time without straps but got to train that. I’ve never done runs with frame with straps before. I’ve done picks and such for prep and contests. I know that sometimes there can be issues with the mind/muscle connection. I think that is more prevalent with figure 8 straps vs normal straps as I felt fine with these. I could feel that my picks were tough on these and were getting more so as I went. Felt harder than it was 2yrs ago. But I have to remember that that wasn’t after a ton of heavy squats. All runs ended up being under 10 seconds. Good bit of effort to put stuff away as I had to carry it back inside. Sandbag shouldering was next. Listed plan was to do 200lbs for 10 lifts alternating sides and to do so with 45-60 seconds rest. I figured that EMOM was going to be the easiest thing here to do and meet that criteria. I had some concerns. The plan here was to do something light for form work so that next time (this appears to be a weekly event from what I’m gathering since I’m new to it) the intensity can be higher. So that means lighter bag. But lighter bag means usually smaller or floppy. I was also worried that this weight sandbag might be one that had been damaged recently and wasn’t replaced or repaired. So in the event of that, I was told to something between 175lbs and 225lbs. So good news was the 200lbs was still there but it did have a leaking hole in the top that wasn’t really covered well with duct tape. I did a single each side with two bags to warm up and it seemed like it would hold up assuming I didn’t just be an ass about controlling it down. It is frustrating to see equipment that I’ve used for years showing damage and wear and tear from what I can only assume are people not treating things with respect or controlling things. Though I’m not blameless in that either as I did end up having the seam on that one 250lbs sandbag burst on me when I tossed it off the water barrel right before my last show. So things happen. But I always repair or replace things like that ASAP. I tried patching things up with more duct tape but it wasn’t working I could tell after 2 lifts and I ditched it. If anything, it was distracting me and causing me to pull too much with the arms. It seemed that as long as I had it standing up, the sandbag was ok and minimal leakage. Other than some hesitancy on the first few, these seemed to go better form wise for me. Less thinking required to do the movement. After the event specific stuff was done, it was on to the finishing up stuff. 2 up and 1 down leg curls after that. Same long negatives on these as has been the case. 10lbs more from last time. The previous week was to be similar but due to the gym being closed, I had to do other stuff at home which wasn’t as effective. So I kind of knew these would suffer a little bit. Left side still has that discomfort but it seems to be more tolerable or less than it has been. Still got a long way to go. However, that doesn’t keep it from being my stronger hamstring apparently. So what seems fine for that side is a struggle for the right leg. I went for just the minimum after seeing how much trouble my right leg was having matching the left. Not to say that the minimum reps wasn’t a good workout. These are never not tough. Backwards “sled” drags with the exer-genie after that. Plan here being 3 sets of 7-8 RPE with somewhat short rests. I figured I could pick up where I left off last time and use the top weight for all three sets. That didn’t work out how I thought it would. Granted, I did get thing setup fairly quickly and not have the lead line catch on anything but that first set was really tough. Took over a minute to finish 60’ but I didn’t stop once, just slow going. I may need to do lighter effort sets in the future to warm up the device. I say this as the second set was how I was expecting things to feel and did that in under 40 seconds. Third set though was back to first set toughness almost. It seems that how I have the lead line coiled also plays a factor. So need to be consistent with lead line placement and maybe warm-up the thing a little. Last item for the session being the usual quad fallbacks. 2x12 as has been the case. Knees were stiff and legs were tight. I felt better on the second set of these. Similar to the one leg squat to boxes, it might benefit me doing a few reps to get ready before doing the actual work sets for things to feel better. But hard to say if worth it if it just ends up being more work and effort expended for the same effect. Took a few moments to collect my thoughts and then stretched out (I was viciously attacked with doggy smooches during this at my most vulnerable) and drove home. I was going to make sure I iced my knees twice before bed so that I wasn’t kept up.
No comments:
Post a Comment