Push Ups on Kettlebells/Band Rows (loose grip)
bwx15/ab’sx20
bwx15/ab’sx20
bwx15/ab’sx20
bwx15/ab’sx20
bwx15/ab’sx20
bwx15/ab’sx20
B-Stance Romanian Deadlifts/McGill Bird Dogs (10 seconds)
40x10/10—bwx5/5
40x10/10—bwx5/5
40x10/10—bwx5/5
40x10/10—bwx5/5
40x10/10—bwx5/5
40x10/10—bwx5/5
Seated Band Hamstring Curls/ATG Split Squats (10” box)
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
ab’sx25 – bwx15/15
Kettlebell Windmills
15x6/6
15x6/6
15x6/6
15x6/6
15x6/6
15x6/6
Backwards Treadmill Pushes (10% Incline)
10 minutes
10 minutes
Stretching
Comments: So back to it in some fashion after the contest. The competitions this year have been tough. Tougher than last year when subclasses were a thing. Tougher than they were in 2018 when I got my amateur Arnold invite (again, subclasses). Only thing I’m disappointed in is how axle press went for me but hopefully will adjust for next time. I keep learning. It is exciting and frustrating at the same time. Same with this level of competition. Toughest year yet of course being the year Nationals is not even half a day’s drive. So I guess I’ll give it another shot to qualify this year. Though that might be the plan, have to see how my body responds. I really went out at the show. Was holding a lot of stress. Throat for the next day or so felt like I had been shouting all day when I had not been very vocal. Got fever blisters as well. Usually stuff like this happens shortly after a contest if I’ve been really stressed. I also feel beat up. The thing that is not coming round too quick is the lower back. Not the left side which is usually the culprit for that. Right side. Really tense and stuff is compressed. I mean, I did do 128lbs more than I had in training on the deadlift event (everything else was reasonable to what I did in training lol). Walking and soft tissue work and doing adjustments as the swelling goes down. I had ordered a replacement dip belt so I could do some traction and that arrived today during lunch so do some of that. I ended up taking anti-inflammatories and applying Icy Hot to see if that helped things. Sleeping feels good and fine but sitting on my butt gets things tight and stiff (I do pace around at work when on the phone so not always sitting). That recovering is going to be the key I think as far as being ready or not. So the plan here is get back into things and work on stuff that would’ve been missed in peak prep. As is usually the case after a contest, lot of reps stuff with some upper body and lower body focus since no training on Monday. I was a little worried that my lower back issue would hamper things or keep me from doing stuff. It seems to be better when I’ve been doing stuff and have it feeling loose and warmed up. So first thing was a superset. Actually, most of the workout was going to be supersets. So one of those workouts. Again, first thing was combo of push-ups and rows. Push-ups being my choice but preferably something that was neutral grip and didn’t require balance like rings. Bands for the rows and I was advised to do these with either wrapped around wrist and just guiding grip with hands or around the elbows. Focus on lats and give forearms and rest. I went with the wrist route for the band rows. Push-ups I did the elevated on kettlebell one. For both, it was to be 3x12-20 with 5RIR. Some initial stiffness and tightness but feeling good once I got a few reps. Feeling a little fatigue here. I liked the ROM I was able to get with these band rows. Next was a pairing of b-stance rdls and bird dogs. I was advised use light weight for the b-stance rdls (like 25lbs) but I went heavier since 40lbs was the next dumbbell I had and didn’t feel like loading up the handle for such light weight when I’ve done about this weight as warm-ups in the past. I was curious to see how the lower back would handle these. Seemed fine. The bird dogs were tough. I think I did them right as they had “McGill” and I watched the video. They looked like regular bird dogs but with different intent. And long holds. 5-10ct. Curse me and my desire to try the most so these were really tough. Getting immediate soreness in the glutes on these. The b-stance rdls became more of active rest compared to the bird dogs. Next and final pairing was band leg curls with the ATG split squats. Not much to say with those. Like the band rows, I could probably go more with the leg curls but the band setup gets a bit annoying/tricky with multiple bands so easier and close enough to the plan with things as they are. The ATGs were without band distraction on the talus. I had to improvise to get a close enough setup to the gym here so slightly lower box height. Can do these lower but the idea was more like the same difficulty as the warming up I was doing with these. Lower back wasn’t a fan of these for the right leg but seemed to tolerate the movement more as I went. From there on to a new exercise for me, windmills. I’ve been interested in trying them but not really sure how to implement them or if I needed to. I seem to have good shoulder flexibility. Trick would be more the core work and hips. I wasn’t sure how my spine would be liking these with how it was feeling but wasn’t that bad. Nothing like the feeling of the ATG stuff. I chose to use kettlebells since light and I could do them in the garage rather than outside with it raining off and on. Last thing was to do 10 minutes or so of some cardio activity. With it raining off and on, it made the most sense to do the backwards treadmill stuff. I put stuff away before getting this ready. Same setup as I left it as. Alternating pace and foot position as well as my torso’s position as well. 10 minutes feels like a long time doing these. Ate dinner and stretched.
Comments: So back to it in some fashion after the contest. The competitions this year have been tough. Tougher than last year when subclasses were a thing. Tougher than they were in 2018 when I got my amateur Arnold invite (again, subclasses). Only thing I’m disappointed in is how axle press went for me but hopefully will adjust for next time. I keep learning. It is exciting and frustrating at the same time. Same with this level of competition. Toughest year yet of course being the year Nationals is not even half a day’s drive. So I guess I’ll give it another shot to qualify this year. Though that might be the plan, have to see how my body responds. I really went out at the show. Was holding a lot of stress. Throat for the next day or so felt like I had been shouting all day when I had not been very vocal. Got fever blisters as well. Usually stuff like this happens shortly after a contest if I’ve been really stressed. I also feel beat up. The thing that is not coming round too quick is the lower back. Not the left side which is usually the culprit for that. Right side. Really tense and stuff is compressed. I mean, I did do 128lbs more than I had in training on the deadlift event (everything else was reasonable to what I did in training lol). Walking and soft tissue work and doing adjustments as the swelling goes down. I had ordered a replacement dip belt so I could do some traction and that arrived today during lunch so do some of that. I ended up taking anti-inflammatories and applying Icy Hot to see if that helped things. Sleeping feels good and fine but sitting on my butt gets things tight and stiff (I do pace around at work when on the phone so not always sitting). That recovering is going to be the key I think as far as being ready or not. So the plan here is get back into things and work on stuff that would’ve been missed in peak prep. As is usually the case after a contest, lot of reps stuff with some upper body and lower body focus since no training on Monday. I was a little worried that my lower back issue would hamper things or keep me from doing stuff. It seems to be better when I’ve been doing stuff and have it feeling loose and warmed up. So first thing was a superset. Actually, most of the workout was going to be supersets. So one of those workouts. Again, first thing was combo of push-ups and rows. Push-ups being my choice but preferably something that was neutral grip and didn’t require balance like rings. Bands for the rows and I was advised to do these with either wrapped around wrist and just guiding grip with hands or around the elbows. Focus on lats and give forearms and rest. I went with the wrist route for the band rows. Push-ups I did the elevated on kettlebell one. For both, it was to be 3x12-20 with 5RIR. Some initial stiffness and tightness but feeling good once I got a few reps. Feeling a little fatigue here. I liked the ROM I was able to get with these band rows. Next was a pairing of b-stance rdls and bird dogs. I was advised use light weight for the b-stance rdls (like 25lbs) but I went heavier since 40lbs was the next dumbbell I had and didn’t feel like loading up the handle for such light weight when I’ve done about this weight as warm-ups in the past. I was curious to see how the lower back would handle these. Seemed fine. The bird dogs were tough. I think I did them right as they had “McGill” and I watched the video. They looked like regular bird dogs but with different intent. And long holds. 5-10ct. Curse me and my desire to try the most so these were really tough. Getting immediate soreness in the glutes on these. The b-stance rdls became more of active rest compared to the bird dogs. Next and final pairing was band leg curls with the ATG split squats. Not much to say with those. Like the band rows, I could probably go more with the leg curls but the band setup gets a bit annoying/tricky with multiple bands so easier and close enough to the plan with things as they are. The ATGs were without band distraction on the talus. I had to improvise to get a close enough setup to the gym here so slightly lower box height. Can do these lower but the idea was more like the same difficulty as the warming up I was doing with these. Lower back wasn’t a fan of these for the right leg but seemed to tolerate the movement more as I went. From there on to a new exercise for me, windmills. I’ve been interested in trying them but not really sure how to implement them or if I needed to. I seem to have good shoulder flexibility. Trick would be more the core work and hips. I wasn’t sure how my spine would be liking these with how it was feeling but wasn’t that bad. Nothing like the feeling of the ATG stuff. I chose to use kettlebells since light and I could do them in the garage rather than outside with it raining off and on. Last thing was to do 10 minutes or so of some cardio activity. With it raining off and on, it made the most sense to do the backwards treadmill stuff. I put stuff away before getting this ready. Same setup as I left it as. Alternating pace and foot position as well as my torso’s position as well. 10 minutes feels like a long time doing these. Ate dinner and stretched.
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