Friday, January 21, 2022

January 20, 2022 – Week 15, Day 3

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

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep)
87x2
112x2
139x2
164x2
191x2
216x2
241x2
260x3
228x3
228x3
228x3

Paused 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (1 second)
87x3
117x3
147x3
177x3
207x3
237x5
213x5
213x5

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (straps)
135x10
185x8
235x5
285x10
285x10
285x10

One Arm Half Kneeling Dumbbell Strict Presses
40x5/5
70x15/15 PR+3 reps
70x13/13
70x12/12 

Band Face Pulls
sbx20
sbx20
sbx20

Stretching
 
Comments Two things before starting. One is that I was expecting 1-3” of snow but it missed us and we got just a little rain. Still meant I had to clean up the back patio to keep from it being a slipping hazard. The other is that some places are back in stock of the old protein I was using but at ridiculous prices. Like more than $100 for a bag I was getting for $75. And apparently I wasn’t getting what I had been expecting with that brand. Serving is one scoop of 165g but turns out the scoop isn’t that big and it is like 1.5 scoops to equal a true serving. So I might not go back to it if I’ve been getting maybe 75% of what I thought I was on that. I’m probably getting more protein and calories with the other stuff now. Any ways, I was a little anxious for this workout. It took a bit for me to calm myself to not be high strung. I had not expected log clean and press to be so bad last week. And I don’t think I was expecting it to show up this week. I have a new power rack coming so I figured rather than deal with moving the current one from the garage to the patio, I’d just do the exercises that needed it in the garage and just worry about log outside in the cold. BTN presses with pauses into one arm band lat pulls again. Felt good. Log after that. So last week it had been clean once and press for whatever reps with the working stuff being an EMOM followed by AMRAP. I had made assumptions with the wording of training that cleans on log would be every other week due to stress on the biceps. And maybe that was the case before and with how things went last week that may have been changed to get things back on track. For this session, I was to do clean every rep. Work up in doubles to a top triple (1-2RIR) and then take off 12.5% for 3x3. The calming myself to be ok if something like 230lbs ended up with where I was at the moment. Like last week my knees were not happy those first few reps with the lapping of the log. But after that initial discomfort, things felt fine. I think part of my worry besides how unstable log felt last time was just how fatigued my lower back had felt last workout. That I’d underperform again and have things be not where I want them to be with contest in less than 2 months. But things weren’t bad. They were quite good. Ok, maybe the belt pinching my belly wasn’t fun (note to self, either no belt or tight belt, no loose belt). I was fully ready for 241lbs to be my top set but it felt really easy. Now I didn’t feel like I’d have reps in reserve if I took another 25lbs jump. I wasn’t that confident in myself. In hindsight, I probably should’ve tried. This was a very comfortable set of three with 260lbs. The things that I think made the difference was the change in the assistance lifts and focus and the cue to let the weight settle and chest up. I was rushing things last week. Lean back press is taking advantage of the increasing pressing and upper back power developed this training cycle (and previous cycles). Down sets were a little tiring. To be expected since I haven’t done clean every rep log since 2015. Log just hasn’t been that light really where there was a thought that I’d get more than a single most of the time with these big shows. Since that year when I’ve competed, it’s either been max log or something 315lbs – 330lbs for part of a medley or for reps. I’m not against it but that just hasn’t been the thing that was focused on for the longest time. So understandable that it would be an area that wasn’t as well trained. But I feel like while not the fastest on these, I move with purpose. I've had to modify how I do my clean from in the past which was more biceps. My belt that I have now the log tends to get caught on it if I keep it too close to my body on the lowering so sometimes I kind of have to have a guided drop. Also not holding on to the log the whole way down after the wrist injury I had at 2017 SC Nats with the cutouts for the log not being very deep. I was really happy with how this part of the workout went. I’m just 25lbs away from contest weight. Looking back at numbers I've hit on clean every rep, my bests would be 267x2 and 258x4. From there into the garage again for the rest of the workout. Log incline bench again. It indicated to do with a slight pause (enough to keep from the “bounce press” style). Inclined of 45-60 degrees. No changes there for me as I already have it at 45 degrees or so angle. I figured I’d go with 1 second pauses since I had numbers for that (and 2 seconds). Goal was work up in triples to top set of 5 (2RIR) and then 10% off that for 2x5. I was feeling pretty good on these with 30lbs jumps. I was uncertain when I got to 237lbs if I was going to go up from there or not. That was why I had a slight hesitation after locking out the third rep. I figured this was good enough with how things were feeling. Much like log push press, probably some pounds there but still good stuff. Down sets were quite comfortable here as well. From there, moved on to chest supported barbell rows. So the plan for this was 5lbs less than top set last week for 3x10. I did change my warming up a little as I’ve been just doing sets of 5 but the lighter weights feel like nothing at that low of reps and wasn’t really getting me prepped for the higher reps I would be doing most of the time. This seemed to be a good change for this particular session. I was a little worried my right biceps wouldn’t care for these today after all the log cleans. But it was fine. No problems. Half kneeling presses again. Same weight and plan. I didn’t need as many reps to get warmed for these this time. These had been really tough balance wise last week but this week it was like no big deal. Got a lot more reps this time around. I’m a little miffed I adapted to this exercise so quickly at this weight. I was kind of hoping for more struggle and difficult to continue to make my sides pick up the slack. But maybe that have already started to do that. Last thing was band face pulls. I feel like this was the best I’ve been able to impose my will on this particular band tension. Though I think my upper back was just done with the day at the end here with all the clean and rows and such as right side of upper back was really tense after finished workout. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching. Iced knees and right elbow before bed.


No comments:

Post a Comment