Wednesday, March 23, 2022

March 22, 2022 – Week 2, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 seconds)
65x3
115x3
155x3
205x2
245x2
295x5
295x5
295x5

Deadlifts
135x3
135x3
225x2
275x2
315x2
Added Straps
365x2
410x5
410x5
410x1+5 (strap malfunction)

12” Jack Stand Pulls
147x1
237x1
327x1
Added Straps
417x5
452x5
487x5

Heel Elevated Goblet Squats (5-1-5-X tempo)
15x15
15x15
15x15

Dumbbell Lateral Lunges
10x3/3
40x8/8
40x8/8
40x8/8

Single Leg Seated Band Hamstring Curls
abx30/30
abx30/30
abx30/30

Stretching
  
Comments: Didn’t get as much sleep as I would like but can’t exactly say it was poor sleep. Right knee achy all day. Just have to keep monitoring and doing what I can and go from there. It is probably going to be flairing up this training cycle with working on bringing up things that are needed to be competitive at this kind of show. More knee and hip extension stuff. More squatting. Some stuff is similar to last show but different enough that looking at different systems. Everything at last show was short duration other than log and that was never going to be a lot of reps really. Lot of time under tension and reps for this show as well as moving fast. Today’s training looked tough. Mobility work was adjusted to being mostly balance and core stuff with added changes. So first thing was ssb squats with pauses. I wasn’t looking forward to these. Knees achy (especially the right one) and this is looking like a squat twice a week show. Determined that the ssb at home is not as friendly as the one at the gym (about 10% harder). Keeping an eye on the knees here. Plan was 295lbs (60%) for 3x5 with 2 minutes rest. 3 second pauses and report back RIR on the last set. First set felt weird. Like not difficult or heavy but pressure just in the upper body felt like something heavy. Didn’t have that sensation for the other sets. These felt tougher than I would’ve liked but technically this is most I’ve done for 5 with 3 second pauses before. From there it was on to deadlifts. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to go about doing these as far as warming up. I had more pulls after this as well. I’ve usually done 40-50lbs jumps. The plan was 70% of my 1rm (using 585lbs) for 3x5 with a bit longer rests than the squats and report back RIR. I decided to borrow from the warm-ups I was doing for axle block pulls. Two sets with 135lbs and then a plate jump and doubles up to the work weight. I’m using the Versa Gripps for right now to get used to them and build familiarity as I plan on using them for the frame deadlift at the show. I didn’t need straps but I added them early just to feel them out. Honestly, they work but they don’t quite feel like my straps where I know when they are snug. The gripping area is smaller. Little bit of knee aches. With the working sets, the weight felt easy but not super fast. I could keep doing reps but I wondered if I could demonstrate a good max with how I was feeling. But that isn’t important right now. Deadlift right now for this show is just training. First set I think that I had my grip a little too close together as I felt like things were smoother on the next set with grip out a little bit. I also think that I’m not quite used to floor pulls again as my form felt a little off as far as hips and legs that first set. I don’t feel like it was present the other two sets. There might be more lat activation compared to the figure 6 straps. On the last set, I had a malfunction with the right side. The Velcro came undone going for the second rep. I adjusted and did five unbroken reps just to keep myself honest on how many RIR were there. These did feel comfortable. From there, more pulls. Elevate the weight 3” so using the jack stands again but no axle. Advised to do 3x5 with it ranging from RPE 6 to RPE7.5-8. I did plate jump singles to work up to the weight I felt would be fine. 12” is close to what my floor pull is and 410lbs was feeling like RPE 6 (I think). Stuck with the Versa Gripps to keep testing things. I was initially going to do 40lbs jumps but then went with 30lbs and then finally split the difference with 35lbs. The second set didn’t feel that much tougher so I was kind of regretting not going heavier so that my top set would be 500lbs or more. But I didn’t want to make the mistakes I had made with ssb tempo squats and those two axle exercises. So I stuck to 35lbs jump. Much like the ssb pauses, anything over 425lbs for 5 was a PR for these. Top weight felt comfortable too and would at the most be 7.5 I think. So good to know I got a bit more there considering all the suit work the past few contest preps. None for this show. So while the heavier stuff was done, the hard part of the workout was by no means finished. Everything before was just work that anyone can do. The next thing was pain. Tempo work has been a cruel gift with working on issues and weaknesses. Pauses and accentuated negatives are fine but good lord is slowing down the concentric brutal. And that was what I was to do. Heel elevated goblet squats for 3 sets of 10-15 reps keeping 3-RIR. Tempo set at 5-1-5-X, so a pause added and no rest at lockout. These were going to be constant tension. Added to that, I was advised to breath through the nose and keep my face and jaw relaxed as well as not let my hands clench either. It sounds like some sort of bizarre training that a main character in a shouen manga/anime would have to endure to get to the next level in strength. I knew that this would be extremely tough from how things went with single leg work in my very first training cycle. Idea was to get the knees happy. I think these would’ve been just as tough without any weight moving this slow. Like weighted Tai Chi. First set actually felt fine other than knowing what was to come. I noticed at 12 reps in that I just started leaking sweat out of my arms. Had two more of these and they were going to get harder each time. I did seem to recover well between sets thankfully. Upper body was getting tired holding the weight. Knees were getting achy and tired after that first set. I was very relieved when these were done. Watching these in fast motion (8x and 16x) it looks like a stop motion animation with how things move. It is eerie. The next part of the workout wasn’t so bad. It would probably be easier if my quads weren’t quivering. Dumbbell lateral lunges was a new one for me. I think I did these right. Kind of like the Cossack squats. Goal was hip and hamstring flexibility. Weight here wasn’t too difficult but my legs were shaking, never done these and each knee had its own issues with lateral movement. I do need to work these as I will have to rely on moving to the side for the sandbag event since I will have to load and then run around to do the next rep and so on. Finished up with single leg band curls. Goal was to have these 20-30 with 3-5RIR. I figured that it would be like how other assistance stuff was Monday with it being easy, just right and tough as far as fitting in the parameters. I went with average band and that seemed to work with it being able to do 30 reps each time. I remember when this band tension was tough for these and this many reps. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching and icing knees.


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