Thursday, May 26, 2022

May 25, 2022 – Week 11, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Titan Fitness Frame Deadlifts (16” pick, straps)
115x5
205x3
295x3
385x2
475x2
565x1/617x1/669x1/721x1
620x1/1/1/1 (cluster reps, 15 seconds)

Bulgarian Split Squats (barefoot)
bwx20/20
bwx20/20
bwx20/20

Copenhagen Planks (foam roller crush)
bwx25/25 seconds
bwx25/25 seconds

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
ab’sx30
ab’sx30
ab’sx30

Stretching
  
Comments: With the drowning in workload at work, I’m starting to become adapted to that and be aquatic. It gets done when it gets done. I was a little anxious and nervous for this workout session. I think I’m still not used to this style of “deload” where there is still intensity and sometimes my heaviest lifts are the week before the competition. It has seemed to work for the two local shows in the past year (the ones with the longer cycles). So I trust this process but there is still that risk as that fine line has me at my strongest and my most fragile. Tired but stronger than ever, able to output more than usual assuming timing is perfect. This workout and the next one have two contest events with attempts at the heaviest weights so far and things could go wrong. My hip flexors and lower abdominals were feeling the effort from the split jerks with the movement and the holds in that position. Mobility stuff seemed to help with that. With how the weather was, I kept the garage door opened and no fans. Frame deadlifts to start things off. This was the only heavy thing for this workout. High intensity, low volume. The plan was up to me really what I felt was going to be easiest or make the most sense. I know I’m not the best deadlifter and it can depend on things and rules on whether I end up competitive or not. With how the contest setup is with starting at 650lbs and then going up 50lbs each rep I could conceivable hit 3-5 reps. So with that in mind my options were to either work up to a heavy 3-5 rep set (RPE 8.5-9) or to do a set with increasing weight each set with the last rep being same difficulty as planned 3-5 rep set. I figured that it would probably make sense to do the adding weight each rep rather than a rep set as it would be more like contest conditions and I tend to try and get stretch reflex on rep sets with the frame. So the proposed thing with adding weight each rep was a four rep set, starting at 600lbs and going up 40lbs with a top weight being 720lbs with the hope that this is something I feel I can do a double with. I made some changes to that. I didn’t have enough 10’s to really do those kind of jumps so I started lighter and planned for 52lbs jumps to get to about the same top weight. Rather than loading myself and strapping back in, I had my father help me with that. Warming up was ok, just wasn’t sure if sciatica would be acting up or not as it was a little tender with lean back on the overhead stuff yesterday (but improving). This did give me an idea of pacing and if I had strict judging (my dad had me hold until the frame leveled out). I don’t know what kind of pacing will be there day of but I got these in under a minute with strapping in my own time (had a little issue with that). 721lbs was an 11lbs PR for this height on a frame pull. I did 710lbs on the I-beams back in 2017 preparing for SC Nats that year. I felt like I had a double or triple there. I felt I could do another jump (I did have 32lbs set aside just in case but this wasn’t so easy I needed another jump). So that felt good. My hope here is that my setup makes this weight harder than it would be on the really long frames at that show. Like the hope is that I can do 10% or more on the contest frame compared to what I have in the garage. Wasn’t quite done though. Practicing the strapping in to get timing better and in the event that I find I got to take a breath and stand up before going for another lift. So that was a brainchild of cluster reps where I got to restrap after each rep. Get commands and pull a single and then stand up and weight 15 seconds and do it again. Essentially to match the reps of what I did total on the heavier set. These felt tougher. I was feeling a lot of pressure in my sinuses. Maybe I relaxed a bit after pulling 100lbs more relatively comfortably. Or that wore me out haha. That was enough of frame pulls for today. I know there are guys coming into this show that can get up to 900lbs or more here but I think I can hang if the setup is a workable thing for me to use my smarts and my leverages. Will find out at curtain call. From there it was the accessory work of the evening. Same as last week in that it just indicated to try and maintain upright torso and sets of 12-20 with 3-5RIR. But not weight this time. Bodyweight only. A little slow to start but I warmed up pretty quick. I felt that this was easy enough that I didn’t have to take a rest between sides like I do when it is more challenging. So one leg and then the other. Rest between sets here. Got a good sweat going and breathing fairly heavy by the end. I mean, I did kind of cut the time in half taking out the rest between sides. Had to make these interesting somehow with the no weight thing. Right leg was feeling the burning sensation by the second set but didn’t notice it after that. These also stressed what was stiff and sore from split jerks. Copenhagen planks with the foam roller in a naughty boy vice position lol. I realized that I could use the rolling stand I do for split squats as the point of contact for the supporting leg rather than using the exercise bench. This could allow me to keep things aligned better. Also adds some stability element with the rolling pad. Today was 2 sets of 25 seconds (I could’ve done 20 too) and these were really tough. Not for the top leg. I’m used to that. The isometric crushing is what gets me on these for the lower leg. I wore the knee sleeves this time just to add some additional support to my knees as I do have a few more sessions left. They’ve been feeling relatively good lately so want to facilitate that and not add additional stress just because they are feeling good. I need them at their best when it matters. Last thing band leg curls with 3x20-30 for RPE 6-7. Used same setup as last time but I did move the bench back a little more. These felt easier overall compared to last week. Put stuff away and stretched before eating pot roast. I did eventually end up icing my knees just to make sure they were feeling good.


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