July 12, 2022 – Week 6, Day 2

Drinky Birds 
mb+10x10/10
mb+10x10/10

Hip Airplanes (5 second holds, hand support)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Suited Deadlifts
No suit
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
Added Suit, Straps
475x1
545x1
605x1
605x1
605x1
545x3 (5 second eccentric last rep)

14” Jack Stand Pulls
225x1
315x1
405x1
Added Straps
495x1
585x3

Wide Grip Pendlay Rows
135x3
185x3
225x3
265x5
265x5
265x5

Hatfield Squats (3 second eccentrics)
65x10
115x5
175x5
225x5
275x10
275x10
275x10

Paused Band Seated Leg Curls (2 seconds)/Dragonflies (5 seconds eccentrics)
ab’sx22/bwx9
ab’sx20/bwx6

Stretching

Comments: As far as things go, I was feeling reasonably fine for how I’ve been feeling the past few weeks. Ready as I was going to be considering the circumstances. This week still a little up in the air since this was the weekend for the planned vacation for the summer so still discussing what is the best to work with the time left and have cake and eat it too situation. So starting things off with the weird hip hinge exercise involving a wall and bands. What I had done as part of Saturday mobility stuff, which had been horribly wrong. I got a clarification video so I can at least say I did these more right this time. I’m not even sure what these would really be called so just for my own naming purposes, going to call them “drinky birds” as it reminds me of those little desk trinkets. Not much in the way of knees but it does seem to make everything in the hips, hamstrings and glutes wake up. Going to take a little bit to get used to them but I could use weight with them this week doing them somewhat correct. I did these inside the house as don’t really have any bare space/wall to do them in the garage. Then into the garage for hip airplanes. I’m getting better at balance on these. I can say this week that this was the first time that I did more reps unsupported vs supported. There are still times where things lock up and I pretty much can’t get anymore reps without help from support in front of me for the one side. Usually, I take a little break between sides and then do a lap before the next set but this time I did just little rests between all of it. From there it was on to deadlifting. This was a heavy suit day. Plan was to work up to 605lbs for 3 singles and then take off 60lbs for a triple. My hope was that being the second session in the suit that things would go better and this kind of weight would rocket up. Partially right. Normal kind of warming up just to get ready to put on the suit and then suit work with just singles. Getting to the bar and getting into position was a lot easier compared to last time. But I feel that the consistency in the pop off the floor wasn’t there and these felt tough. I’ve done this weight for double last year in prep but that didn’t necessarily lead to a new PR at the show with how things went. This weight felt tough today. I was kind of worried after how that first pull went that I might not get all the reps planned. I’d prefer it to feel this way with 30lbs added or more really. Pop wasn’t feeling there and not feeling help with getting above the knees. I don’t have the suit for max tightness and it could be that I’m more used to not having the extra spandex underwear on for the floor suited pulls. Could also be the continuing knee stuff that could be inhibiting leg drive. I could also just be beat from deadlifting twice a week. Second pull I felt I got things to feel better overall. Still not amazing but it felt better than that first set for sure. I had really hoped that I’d be making this weight look and feel like nothing today. Third pull the pop off the floor didn’t feel right but it looks like I got the most as far as the sets with 605lbs were concerned but it was tougher to lockout then the second. Felt about the same as the first. Just one of those put in the work sessions. The day it matters isn’t today. It will need to be on the day I need it to be there. Then 60lbs off for down set triple. Playing by ear on how I was going to treat this. If it felt heavy and sucky, so be it. But if it didn’t I was going to control the eccentric for the last rep. Just because. I was kind of thinking that with the number of weeks left (3 weeks out) that this might actually be the last heavy workout with the suit before the show. This set felt the best of the day as far as suited work and I did a controlled negative for five seconds. I had initially thought I was done with pulls but realized nope. I was to do some more today. Take off the suit and do block pulls from 14”. About the height for Nationals for deadlift as part of the medley but more to get some extra work towards deadlift in a more mechanically favorably position with my leverages that would help my floor pull and hit the point where the suit starts to stop helping. Plan here was work up to a top set of 3-5 with 1-2RIR. I wasn’t sure how these would go. I haven’t done these in a good bit at this height and only went up to 501lbs one time for a rep set. And this bar could be a crappier bar compared to the other one I was using. Did plate jumps and singles to get ready. I was ready if I felt like crap to do 495lbs for my rep set. But really hoping that it would be another work up set and then gauge from there. Plan really being 545-585lbs depending on how I felt. Like, if I knew I could do 585lbs for 3 reps, I’d do that. 495lbs went up well enough that I figured I had 585lbs for reps so I got amped for it and went. I had 1RIR for sure, maybe 2RIR. So that was nice. Felt harder than 545lbs with suit but easier than 605lbs with the suit. Not sure if that helps any haha. From there on to rows. Pendlay rows but with wide grip. I had started my pot roast late so it was fine that this workout was potentially going to be a later session with all the different big lifts. I last did these training for this show last year as kind of an assistance to picking stones. I’ve been trying to keep the heavier rows with straps and these rows without so that I’m not missing something as being able to grip and pull explosively is something that needs to be practiced. As I was setting these up, I stumbled back and stepped on one of the legs of my tripod and snapped it. Had that thing for over a year. Ordered a new one (might show up before the weekend) and used athletic tape to keep it together as best I could. Trying to think lats and not necessarily upper back on these. Not pull with the arms too. Wrists were a little stiff at the start with the wider grip but that went away. Plan here was 3x5 and then report back RIR on the last set. This was one of those where I got warmed up and everything clicked on that last set and made all the other sets seem pointless. Like it was 2-3RIR and then this one was like 5-6RIR. From there was a return of an old staple from my past. It was 2014 when I was introduced to the Hatfield squat. It ended up being a lot of my squatting with pause squats and front squats rounding things out. Stopped doing them in 2016 after the back injury and then they weren’t programmed until I started doing them to work around a back injury and they got incorporated in. But then stopped once I could squat normally again. I’ve done over 600lbs on this exercise but hadn’t gone over 525lbs for a long time. I had to figure out best way to set this up at home and it appeared outside using the rack was best and most stable option. Plan was low RPE (7) and to do 3x10 with 3 second eccentrics and 90 seconds rest. Start light was the notes. I first had to see how these would even feel. Empty bar and my knees were like no thank you. But I persisted and then put on weight and the knees were pretty much fine. This was more a case of the knees needing to get into gear as no squatting this session up until this point. These feel odd but ok. Upper body is getting some workout with these as well even with setting the support low. The amount of reps and the time under tension and fairly low rest periods was more the factor then the weight really. But I feel this was fine for what was needed for the session. Knees felt surprisingly good afterwards. I was sitting back a lot in the descent trying to keep shins upright and then bending knees forward when in the hole. Las thing was a super set. Band leg curls and then the dragonflies. It was a bit of a head scratcher to figure out how best to do this. I needed the bench for the seated leg curls but they needed anchor point too. I had to do the dragonflies outside on the bench due to ceiling being too low and nothing that was good enough to hold for doing them on the floor. So that meant having it all outside and just using the power rack with weights on it to anchor the bands. Leg curls were to be 15-25 reps with 2 second holds and the dragonflies as they have been with being 3-5 second eccentrics (sets of 6-10 reps). With less rest, I figured that I’d get the minimum on the dragonflies on the second set and first one would be where I could push things. Called it on the leg curls even though I was close to 25 reps that first set as I knew it would be pushing it. Kind of surprised how many reps I got on the dragonflies that first set. Second set was good and I got what I expected. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching.