May 28, 2022 – Week 11, Day 4

ATG Split Squats (12” box, lb ankle distraction)
bwx15/15
bwx15/15

Safety Squat Bar Squats to 19” Box
75x3
125x3
175x3
225x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

Pendlay Rows
135x3
185x3
225x6
225x6
225x6

Suitcase Carries/Paused GHD Back Extensions (3 seconds)/Planks
165x50’/50’ – bwx10 – bwx30 seconds
165x50’/50’ – bwx10 – bwx30 seconds
165x50’/50’ – bwx10 – bwx30 seconds

Backwards Sled Drags (turf, hip belt)
215x5 minutes

Stretching

Comments:  So yesterday was not ideal. But sometimes the best thing to refocus is to dissociate with a big meal and deep sleep. I woke up at my usual time for work and to get ready for the day for event work on Saturdays (advised to train today rather than tomorrow to allow for more rest this coming week). I took one look in the mirror at myself and noticed the darker than usual circles under my eyes and promptly went back to bed. I awoke about 4 hours later. So after noon and going to be behind. I’ve been apparently holding up a lot of stress and fatigue by willpower alone and missing lifts the day before kind of lowered that defense and I felt the weight of it all. I felt tired and I zonked out. I had no dreams in my initial 8hrs or so of sleep but I had nonsensical stuff during that 4hrs period. Nothing that I could figure was trying to figure out or process anything that I felt I needed to. So maybe kind of reset to clear the cache of just a bunch of random tasks that were left running and eating up my facilities functioning power. I was seriously trying to figure out if I could just do this workout at home but I couldn’t in good conscience do that so out to train I did about 4-5hrs later than usual. It was an easy planned workout and would be relatively short and odds were high no one else would be there. Spent the drive listening to music that would keep my spirits up. I know the drill and already feeling more focused and framing things in a different light. Whether that is a learned defense mechanism of self delusion to keep going or if it is how things really are is hard to say. Not going to think on it that much. Trying to keep moving forward possessed as I am. I will need to look over training information to see if what I’m thinking is actually the case. Ride out mostly good until 10 miles or so out with stopped traffic. So longer than usual commute. Would be quite annoying if I ended up spending more time driving then lifting. As I suspected, no one was there. The one big fan was brought out so the air flow was much improved from the previous weeks with hot weather. Upper body was feeling kind of sore and stiff from the axle work the day before. Specifically upper back, lats and arms. Started things off with the ATG split squats with the band on the talus. These seemed to feel pretty good. Minimal knee aching and I felt like my ankles didn’t feel as stiff. These feel like a good warm-up but maybe not the best for prepping for certain things. While the single leg stuff like the lateral stepdowns are much harder on the body, I feel they “wake up” my hips and knees more for things like squats. These are for sure easier on the knees though. From there on to squats. Same setup as last time but a lot less weight. 5x3 to foam box with short rests (I made sure to not make these 45 seconds like last week haha). These didn’t feel great on my left knee at the start. Having that sensation I get where it feels weak, like it wants to go. Been a long while since I felt that. So I was a bit hesitant with my squats. I was focusing on that so much that I kind of forgot about my breathing and was trying to focus on the knee, bracing and slow descent that I got a little lightheaded after that first working set. I was also wondering if the breathing issue was something from the last heavy frame session as well. But that seemed to be not the case as every set was easier than the previous one. Pendlay rows followed that. 3x6 at RPE 7. I elected to not use straps or a hard belt to keep weight lower. I wasn’t sure how things would feel with my forearms and biceps from axle work the day before (more so the left arm). Felt easy enough with 135lbs but adding 50lbs to that felt more challenging than I would’ve liked so I stuck with 225lbs. Felt too easy that first set but then tougher the second and then back to easy the last set. An odd triset was up next. Goal being core/trunk work from different angles as well as some last minute gait work. So the plan here was to do suitcase carries for 50’ each side and then some more common work like the back extensions and planks (bodyweight only). Difficulty level being RPE 6-7 for the carries. I haven’t actually tried to do these other than sometimes carrying a single weight or dumbbell from one place to another when setting up or putting things away. A lot options but I went with a stubby farmer’s handle that used to belong to Jenkins. Asking for some strength here in my 14th year of this. I wasn’t too sure if I should try and move fast or stay slow. I just got faster as I went with these with it not being entirely intentional. The back extensions and planks were just really easy and more like active rest. Last thing was my choice of sled work or something similar to get blood flow going and knees, ankles, hips and glutes feeling good. 5-10 minutes depending on the intensity (RPE 5-6). Shorter time if doing actual sled work and longer time if doing backwards treadmill stuff. I was thinking the latter but was looking at setup as I had kind of wanted to add a little band resistance but not enough space so I went with the tired and true backwards drag on the turf. I accidentally added 10lbs to what I had planned to use. Not a big deal, I was just moving slower but that’s fine. Longer lead so my radius for the turns was a bit more. It felt like a long time but it was more out of boredom then fatigue as my quads felt like it was nothing when I finished. Glutes and hips were feeling it though (probably from all the side shuffling). I put stuff away and decided to stay at the gym to stretch out rather than drive home. If I went, I’d have been at the gym less time than it would take for the round trip back. Drive home was mostly fine other than holiday visitors tailgating regardless of what lane or speed I was going.