September 28, 2022 – Week 8, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Paused Bent Over Straight Arm Band Lat Pulls (2 seconds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10

14” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps, briefs)
110x2
200x2
290x2
380x2
470x1
560x1
650x2

Paused 12” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps, 3 seconds 2” off the ground)
470x2
470x2

Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 seconds)
bwx4
bw+25x8
bwx15

Split Squat w/ TKE (sb)
bwx12/12
bwx12/12
bwx12/12

Stretching
  
Comments: So yesterday was unnecessarily stressful. Needlessly so. Feeling those physical manifestations of stress and usually there is a delay. Work stuff and then me getting worked up over how training had been the beginning of last week kind of coming to ahead now. Yesterday didn’t help that. Added some gas to the fire. Heavy sandbag to the shoulders stuff does seem to put some unique stresses to the left side in the neck, jaw and shoulder. But my day started earlier than normal. I awoke to feeling warm and opened my eyes to see that the ceiling fan was off. And my clock was off. So panic to see what time it was to make sure I hadn’t overslept. I was 30 minutes early. But had to work around power being out for about an hour. Seemed to be fine after that and then finding out that something hadn’t been covered all day with someone out and having to do all of it rather than over the course of the day in the last 40 minutes of the day. Beat feet after work to get to pharmacy to get last of vaccinations hopefully for this year (not chancing it at Nationals, no major illnesses since 2017 Flu) and find out the appointment was at a pharmacy I had never been to. And now I was late and on an empty tank of gas. Everything worked out eventually but I felt myself on empty at this point too. Took Dayquil that night more to help combat things as well as to help me sleep in the event that my shoulder I got the shot it started hurting and woke me up. I wanted at least 8hrs. So residual stuff from that day. Not the best feeling for when this was to be the planned last heavy day for pulls for the show. I had big plans hopefully. This was going to be a lower volume day. Warming up was same as last week with the clamshells and TKEs. No split stance on them this time as I was going to be doing a similar exercise later in the session. No bounds or cleans to start things off. Right into those deadlift stance lat pulls. These feel fine. Trying to get my knees to feel better setting up. Then it was time for pulls. There was a change being made here. See, there is a caveat in the rules for the deadlift medley. No suits allowed but they are allowing briefs and indicated examples of brands that could be used. I had initially passed on that as I felt the help would be negligible, if any, and that it might mess up my form. But as getting to the end of this training and feeling the wear and tear, I thought better on it. The deadlift medley has farmer’s picks and those I can get a bit more squat stance into so maybe these could help and save me over this two day show. I ordered a pair thinking they’d show up like the week of the show but to my surprise they arrived almost the next day. I asked Drew what he thought as far as training (I wasn’t expecting to get to use them for this session) and he said to use them if I’m going to this session and next to get used to it. They are more user friendly compared to a suit. I got 2ply and it is kind of insane how thick the fabric is. I knew I’d have to adjust belt situation on these. Plan was to work up in doubles to 60-65% and then singles to a top double (RPE 8.5 – 9, 1RIR). My hope was to hit 630lbs for that double and maybe 650lbs if things were feeling great. I wasn’t feeling that great with everything. Briefs were definitely doing something. I felt good and just do 90lbs jumps all the way. 560lbs felt like it moved better than 540lbs did two weeks ago. I was nervous going for this weight. What if it was just stuck and I blew another training peak? But I knew if this did go up and it went up within parameters, then I had a true shot and not just a long shot at 705lbs at the contest. The hype was real, legs were twitching in anticipation. Got that first rep solidly, second rep not as much but only because strap was slipping in my left hand. I had not chalked up my straps as I hadn’t expected I’d need to (haven’t the entire training cycle) but I guess there is a weight point where chalked is good. I won’t be lax at the show. I was absolutely buzzing after that. Pulls feel stronger than they did in prep for the March show and my deadlift was feeling really darn good for that one. As for the belt situation, I’ll need to use my longer belt to get around the thicker fabric and then cinch it up tight. I’m not sure if I really need to do “form work” with the briefs as this seemed to be intuitive. From there it was breaking down the stuff to 12” pulls on axle. Lift up 2” and pause and then finish the lift. These seem to be a good combo for me combined with the band pulls. Took off the briefs and went back to my regular belt setup. I was supposed to do 480lbs here but I forgot I needed to add 5lbs to each side of what I had on there so did 470lbs. Still a good bit more weight than last time I did these. These are bit of a head rush after the higher pulls. Feels slow and heavy but I can repeat the effort well enough. I think I took less than 2 minutes rest between the two sets. Second set felt better than the first. With that done, it was time for lighter stuff. Less weight but still challenging. Bringing back the inverted ring rows for a change of pace. By my records, been a bit of a year since I did them. At least with weight it looks like. Plan was to give back and core a bit of a break from the heavier weighted rows. Warm up to a set of 8 (2RIR) with 1-2ct holds. Holds on rows really brings down the weight I can use so I went with 2 second with aim to do 25lbs. The 25lbs weight was a little slick so it was sliding around a bit and I had to be very controlled with that so that it didn’t come off or hit me in the face. My forearms are still beat from Sunday and Monday (sandbag, arm-over-arm, axle) and my left biceps cramped up a little during that weighted set. Not ideal. Took the weight off for a rep set of 12-15 with 3-4RIR. Went for 15 reps. Right biceps was starting to feel that same cramp/fatigue but didn’t. No further cramping in either biceps but I could tell they were feeling the arm-over-arm stuff. Last thing was unilateral leg work. Split squats with band TKEs. No weight, just band tension and keeping these 8-12 reps at RPE 6-7 for 3 sets. Put on knee sleeves since I figured my knees would get achy from these. I definitely feel like the form is different between sides due to what feels right or comfortable. May need to monitor that more closely. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching. Iced knees before bed. Coming to the end of this. Feel worn most the time but putting up big numbers. The driest wood makes the best kindling.

September 26, 2022 – Week 8, Day 1

Warm Up Circuit

Paused Close Grip 2-Board Bench Presses w/ bands (1 second, +25lbs bottom/+44lbs top)
45x3
75x3
105x3
135x3
165x3
165x3
165x3
165x3
165x3

Paused Band Y Raises (1 second)/Full ROM Band Lateral Raises
µb’sx15/µb’sx25
µb’sx15/µb’sx20

Incline Band Tate Extensions 
lbx25
lbx20

Double Pause Axle Clean and Push Presses (clean every rep, 1 second lockout and sternum)
76x16

Stretching
  
Comments: So usually there isn’t a back to back workout with the Day 4 session. But kind of needed to for scheduling purposes. The plan was to do a really light session and have it earlier in the week so that rested up hopefully for kind of the last heavy touches for the overhead and deadlift. I ended up taking ibuprofen to help me get to sleep faster and have sound sleep. I needed to since unlike how things usually go, I wasn’t going to be able to sleep in and take all day to do recovery stuff as I had to work Monday. I was feeling pretty worn the next day. At lunch time, I decided I was going to start my plan for pre-contest immunity boost. Already got flu shot at the beginning of the month, try to get other stuff this week. Last time I was at Nats I had waited too long to get flu shot as I was worried that my contest peaking would have my immune system stressed to the max and that it could be an issue. Then I got the flu at Nats that year and had to take off two weeks of work to recover. So not doing that again. The other thing is taking effervescent supplement that I recall another competitor mentioning taking about a week leading up to competition if having to fly or be in crowded places. But I know how the stress from my job can negatively affect me on top of hard training so starting it early (I got 30 doses) to see if that can keep me going. I’ve not tried this before as a method so no clue if it will work. I did feel a bit more perked up afterwards (but I also ate lunch too and that usually has me feeling better). My body was still stiff from Sunday as sandbags over shoulder is rough as is arm-over-arm pulls. Warm up was altered a little. Usually I do band wall slides and band y raises but since this session was going to have me doing band y raises as part of the workout, I subbed in axle btn pressing to open up shoulders as I’d be doing some pressing later on. Pauses at top and bottom for the wall slides. Did normal reps and some with pauses, holds (sometimes several during the rep) on the axle btn with just the empty bar. From there on to workout. As I mentioned, this was supposed to be light and easy to recover from. First up was benching with bands. I was told I could do close grip bench or close grip 2-board, whichever I felt would be best or easiest to recover and put good effort into axle later in the week. Like the ssb squats with bands the day before, lower percentage and 10-15% bands and trying to keep the stretch reflex out of it and explode up. 5x3 with 40-45% (up to 50% if I felt good and was doing 2-board). I did some lower side estimates here and it was roughly using 370ish for the single. These were feeling nice and light. Left shoulder was sore and stiff. Didn’t want to push it. Likely from the sandbag over shoulders since that is the side that takes the brunt of it. Smashing more than body weight several times on just one side of your neck is going to have an affect regardless of how soft it is. No issues with how things felt as far as the wrists and elbows and weight really. Just soreness in the left shoulder. 30lbs jumps seemed good. I feel I could’ve done 185lbs which would be 50% or so here and kept to the spirit of things but probably best with how the left shoulder was. I had assumed higher band tension from past readings (+33/+53) but either I had a different setup or these bands lose a lot of their tension rather quickly. Regardless, still was within the parameters. From there it was time for just bands. Shoulders superset with the y raises and laterals. I knew these were going to get tough quick. Plan was two sets of each with it being 10-15 reps for the y raises (3-5RIR) and 15-25 reps for the laterals. I knew I could do the y raises with the micros for 2x15, even with holds, with RIR but not sure about the band laterals as those fire my shoulders faster. I got through the first superset fine but knew I’d need to lower reps mostly likely to finish and have appropriate RIR. Second set was a lot tougher on the y raises (the first set was really easy) and then I tried to beat the time I had left before my shoulders got too full of lactic acid to try and get in a lot of reps but stopped at 20 reps. Would’ve liked for these to be better but have to remember that stuff felt not great on Friday for upper body and I couldn’t even be bothered to do these exercises on Monday because of how I was feeling. So progress from a week ago as far as attitude. Continuing with exercises I didn’t do last week, there were the Tate’s again. But the new kind with no weights, just bands. I was to do them last week for the first time so doing them for the first time now. I wasn’t too sure how these would feel. Wrap a single band behind the incline bench and do extensions. Felt fine that first set but man did my triceps fatigue out real quick and I could only manage 20 reps on the second set after getting 25 reps the first time. But I wasn’t done for the day. I think originally this would have been the end of it but later Drew probably added in the axle form work. Pretty much was to use 65-85lbs and do 12-16 singles with pauses on the gut and at lockout. I figured I’d toss on 50lbs to the empty axle and do that. And wear everything but a hard belt like I would for competition. Test out the grip shirt for an actual continental style clean. And the knee sleeves for the dip to do the flip. This grip shirt feels a lot better than my other one ever did for this. I started out just kind of doing cluster singles and then I’d do like 2 in a row and pause briefly. Some reps I’d pause at different points as well as the two planned pauses. To kind of feel things out as far as how things would feel if a weight is heavy and it doesn’t immediately go up and I have to breathe and brace. I’ll still have to see how heavier stuff goes as far as that damned flip but these felt good. Now if I could make 200lbs more on the bar feel this way, I’ll be a world champion ha. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

September 25, 2022 – Week 7, Day 4

Patrick Stepdowns
bwx20/20 at 4”

One Legged Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts (opposite side)
50x10/10
50x10/10

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats w/ bands (1 second, +15lbs bottom/+70lbs top)
65x2
115x2
155x2
205x2
245x2
245x2
245x2
245x2
245x2

Sandbag Over Shoulders (left)
205x1
250x1
300x1
336x1
336x1
336x1 (attempted double 30 seconds rest)
336x1 (attempted double 60 seconds rest)

Sandbag Over Shoulder Medleys (left, spaced out 10’)
225x1/250x1/275x1 in 19.06 seconds
225x1/250x1/275x1 in 18.47 seconds

Arm Over Arm Pulls (2” rope, turf, run up)
275x80’ in 38.33 seconds
355x80’ in 40.63 seconds
405x80’ in 46.87 seconds
445x80’ in 55.67 seconds

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
ab’sx30
ab’sx30 

Stretching
  
Comments: With me taking a bit of a nap early in the week, this kind of made moving workouts around a requirement. But if there was going to be a week for it to happen, it was this one. The gym was having a powerlifting meet on Saturday and wouldn’t open until 7PM for lifting/training. So it just made sense to move that to Sunday with how things have been and just kind of have things a little off kilter until the show. Meant I could take care of things on Saturday so I could be ready in the morning to go out and train. List of people at Nationals is filling out now. Including myself 41 people in the HW class and 11 in the under 265lbs class. One thing I’ve noticed is that there might only be like 1 or 2 people (maybe) that I’ve competed at Nationals with before. Certainly none from 2012. I doubt any from 2015. 2017 is the maybes. Wonder if that should tell me that I’m still doing this because I keep on keeping on or just too dumb to stop. On that front, someone I know that competes as pro recently suffered a major injury in training. And the motion that caused it doesn’t make a lick of sense but again, it is an accumulation of things. They’ve had this injury before and come back from it but it never gets easier. I’d say it actually gets harder. Things I noticed between myself and them being different were the initial reaction and the follow up. They let loose a lot of emotion when it happened. Myself, I barely register it when it does. I just get quiet or joke about it and assess if I can keep going or not. I may not be able to physically scream and shout at that loud of volume really. Or perhaps I know that that isn’t going to do anything. The other was that they were able to have people take them to be seen for the injury. I’ve only had this happen once and that was because I couldn’t walk. Otherwise, it has just been me trying as best as I can to operate a vehicle to get me to urgent care services. Twice it has happened when out in Lancaster and the place is closed so had to drive home about 45 minutes to be seen. This could also be that I don’t want to bother or worry people. It makes me wonder if I’m not succeeding because I don’t ask for help more often or that I’m stubbornly keeping things to myself. Is it that I don’t wish to bother others or that I don’t wish to be bothered? Driving out it was raining off and on at the start but cleared up as I got closer to my destination. I knew that from weather report that likely this would catch up to here and had already planned for doing stuff inside because of that. Started out as the only person there and then people started showing up. Started things off with the stepdowns. No set eccentric time, just indicated control. So these went faster than usual. One legged rdls with dumbbell after that. Reduced weight so again, quite easy. From there on to squats. Pulling back on these a lot with it being the final stretch. Indication was to do ssb squats against bands with a slight pause. Plan was 5x2 at 45-50% with bands being 10-15%. Had to look back a good bit to find when I last did ssb squats with bands and not to a box (as I had stretched those further). I went with 50% as it was easy to just work up in 40-50lbs jumps and have it been right there. Knees were a tad achy but I knew that I’d feel better as went. Working sets the weight felt heavy on my back that first set but then it was fine after that. In contrast to how the pressing had felt on Friday. Then it was on to the rest of the workout. The main things were to work as kind of the last heavy day really for sandbag over shoulder and to get in challenging arm-over-arm work. Take my time. So for the sandbag, the goal was to work up to 330ish for 3-4 reps. Singles and plan if I felt good was to try and 2-3 reps on a set if the singles were good. The sandbag I had would be 336lbs. This is still too short of a bag to try the other method of bear hug it up to be effective so couldn’t test that here and just did the style I’ve been doing. I’ve never attempted more than 313lbs in any kind of sandbag lift. Working up in singles, they felt somewhat challenging but I knew from last time that I seem to improve as I go. First go at 336lbs was a bit slow but I got it up. Definitely not feeling like reps were happening today with how that felt. Second I got a little off balance on the lap but still went up better than the first rep. I took a bit of a break to talk with Guy before going back to it and going again. This was the best one of the day and I felt like I could do another rep. Rested about 30 seconds (needed to reset the bag) and the pick was really tough. I went for it still and just couldn’t get it up high enough and fell to the side. I went for another single then after recovering and it wasn’t as smooth as the third single. Took a minute rest to try the double one more time. I feel I got a little closer to getting it that time but no dice. I’m not too bummed with this as like I said, never even tried lifting a sandbag in any capacity over 313lbs and I got several singles. Additionally, I still got in picks, laps and hip drive with the bag even if the lift didn’t end up finished. Just have to note that that will be fatigue added. I certainly felt those attempts at a double after that. And I wasn’t quite done with sandbag. I was to do medleys after that. Well it was up to me as far as doing 1-2 with 225lbs, 250lbs and 275lbs bags. I think this was in the event I used different form for 336lbs for the movement and I don’t. Also consider fatigue. With all the stuff they have us doing, I felt it was best to space these out further than I did last time. I had done maybe 5’ apart for the 4 bag run and did 10’ for these 3 bag runs. It certainly adds something extra to it. I was fidgeting with my do-rag in between bags as it was coming loose and came off entirely on the 275lbs the first run. Second run I was feeling like I was moving faster but then I got off balance on the pick with 275lbs and lost it but caught it in midair and lapped it. I thought that had slowed me down but apparently I was more efficient with the other bags up to that point that this run was over half a second faster. The next thing was arm-over-arm pulls. This took up the majority of my day. Like hours. I knew it would be with how things were. I had gotten through the warm-ups for the sandbag over shoulders in under and hour with setting up and tearing down. This was going to be a pain because I needed to set this up on my own and figure out how to make this be like contest. With the PA Dutch show, I knew it would be with a tire and on turf so that was easy with setup as well as having marked distances. Not the case this time. Weight isn’t announced, setup isn’t announced. 80’ with 1.5” rope and apparently having to run up to the setup to start. I get why they have that for getting things to move along faster with a lot of competitors but it makes training a bit of a hassle and not getting ready and set. So it’s a time element to work on getting braced. Odds are this will be on a smooth convention style floor so hard to really put a number to weight. Plan was to do 4x80’ with first set a warm up and the other sets working up to a decent RPE and try to keep it 45 seconds or so. So I had to find a setup for the foot board. The thing I’ve used in the past is gone so I had to improvise. Anchoring needed to be heavy so I had to put heavy sandbags down. Needed to figure out course with how long the distance was. Needed to find something to sit down on as it won’t be right on the floor. I had wanted to use thinner rope but the only other rope that was this long was the 1” rope and that wasn’t going to cut it here so 2” rope. Also had to do commands so that rope assist would be ready for me running up to it rather than us both being in secure spots. With that first set at a “light weight” I knew there wasn’t really a way to make this move fast on the turf with it slightly uphill and on a sled. The weight wasn’t resisting in a way that I could build appreciably tension and not fall back with it if I went with the long pull. On that end, I decided after that first set to just do a variety of pulls to work the different styles. Long pulls and short pulls and then desperation pulls. Resetting the course took time as I didn’t want to fatigue myself further with having to reset. Exer-genie isn’t long enough for 80’ so it had to be this. Concrete outside would’ve been nice but too risky with rain off and on and how long things were taking. Maybe next time if sunny out but with it finally being cool enough for Hurricanes and us getting rainfall again, it would be tricky (manila ropes don’t like water). Each set go tougher. I had to control it at the end to make sure the sled hit the right spot rather than to the side and hit a sandbag instead. And each time I had to remind myself I had another set that was going to be heavier. One thing I’m happy about is that my forearms weren’t bothering me. I had felt some aches in the left forearm (like golfer’s elbow) this week and setting up but wasn’t present while training. I was really damn tired by the end of the last one and was letting go of the rope near the end. First 3 sets were within the time frame and last one when about 10 seconds over. But I feel that this effort was what was needed here. I need to make it awful and exhausting as it will be the last event of 6 from a 2 day show. Took a bit to cool down and then finished up with the hamstring band leg curls. These felt fine and were good. This ended up being a long day and not only from set up and tear down but also assisting other people with training and having conversations. This was over a 6hr day before I left (I stayed to stretch). Iced knees when I got finished cleaning up at home and eating dinner. Going to be a rough start to Monday at work. Additionally with doing a light workout that day too so that I can put in the right effort for this last week of heavier touches for the show. Definitely feeling that I need to take some heavy rest leading up to this and after this to be fresh again.

September 23, 2022 – Week 7, Day 3

Axle Push Presses
46x2
76x2
106x2
136x2
166x2
196x1
226x1
256x1
256x1
256x1
256x1

Axle Strict Presses w/ bands (+22lbs bottom/+40lbs top)
26x2
56x2
86x2
116x2
146x2
146x2
146x2
146x2
146x2

Paused Banded Face Pulls (low anchor point, 3 seconds)
lbx12
lbx12
lbx12

Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions
lbx20/20
lbx20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: I was not expecting the best effort here today and considering that on Monday I felt like just straight up giving up on competing with how bad I felt, anything that didn’t have me feeling disgust was going to be a win. Granted I wanted everything to be feeling great and not have skipped a beat but that seems to only really be for my lower body training. My upper body seems to still be not fully recovered (or recovered enough to keep progressing linearly like everything else has). Probably didn’t help having those wandering aches and pains upon waking and throughout the day. Axle push press to start things off. Really want to just take a break from this with how frustrating it has been but it just has been the event for the big shows this year and looks like that is continuing into next year. No cleans this week for the pressing. Just out of the rack. Work up in doubles to about 60% and then switch to singles. Work up to top weight for 4 singles. Now as far as the weight goes, it was to be something that felt like my last warm-up before a working set. Suggested was 255-275lbs. I was feeling decent enough warming up and was thinking I could do the top end but I had planned things for the lower end with my luck. And lower end is where I stayed. Usually, the first rep of a working set for me on axle out of the rack feels stupid heavy. I’ve gotten used to that and learned to not panic. So that wasn’t unexpected. It did feel like 30lbs heavier on my shoulders. This actually felt heavier than 326lbs had felt last week. So not exactly feeling fast and powerful. But the form was better than it was with my EMOM speed stuff from Monday. I had issues with reracking the weight on the first and second set. Second set I feel was my best. The weight didn’t feel any lighter as I went so that was annoying but also a sign that things aren’t back to normal and still need to recover. Next was strict presses with the axle against bands. Plan was to use 50-60% with 10-15% band tension for 5x2. Move things fast and speedy. I didn’t have my numbers for this setup with micro bands and wasn’t having luck locating when I last did them so I just used the same band tension setup I’ve been using for both push press and strict pressing for the mini bands. Since that was a little bit more than 15%, I made sure to lower the weight from 60% to make up for that. These weren’t great. Similar to push press, working up these felt fine with the 30lbs jumps. I had mentioned that things had felt fine working up last week with the axle clean and push press and with benching on Monday. But then I get to weight and it just feels too damn tough. I hadn’t come at this exercise or weight like it would be needing 100% effort when I approached and it got stuck at my forehead and I dropped it and took a moment to collect myself. I had expected it to go up nice and smooth and not have it get a sticking point. Seeing as how this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, I refocused and got through it. Reps seemed to be better on the second rep of each set compared to the first. I was not a fan of how these felt. I’ve done 60lbs more on these for a top set before. So this was yet another reminder that things have kind of gone off the rails for my upper body training. Now I’m just worried I don’t have enough time to get things recovered by competition so that I don’t bomb the opener with how things are feeling. This will continue to vex me and it seems like it will be tough to really have any training towards axle at this point that will not take away from what I can do right now. Ugh. Hopefully this workout was a bit of a deload (with the next pressing session being even less to hopefully get things on track) to stimulate and recover. From there it was the band stuff to end the workout. Face pull variation again. Same as last time with 3x10-12 with holds. I decided after last week that attempting to mimic an axle wasn’t worth the hassle. The Fat Gripz were bothering my wrists and I felt feeling muscles work rather than irritate joints or ligaments made more sense. Especially since I’m trying to get my joints to stop feeling crappy right now. So with the Fat Gripz removed, I felt that I needed to increase the band tension up a good bit since I’d not be having it disadvantaged with grip. 3 second holds and lower anchor point so still same motion and stress. Last thing was the band triceps. Single arm overhead. No stretch like last week but advised to do full ROM and get a stretch each rep. I took that to mean not just rapid fire reps to get reps and to control it. So made things a little tougher but still fine with the bands I had. Put stuff away and ate a roast before stretching.

September 21, 2022 – Week 7, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Band Resisted Skater Jumps (mb)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Axle Cleans
86x1
106x1
126x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1

Paused Bent Over Straight Arm Band Lat Pulls (2 seconds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10

14” Axle Jack Stand Pulls w/bands (straps)
No Bands
170x2
Added Bands (+45lbs bottom/+92lbs top)
170x2
260x2
350x2
440x2
440x2
445x2
445x2
450x2
450x2

Neural Bent Over Rows (straps, off 6” pads)
135x5
225x3
295x3
365x10

Posterior Single Leg Step Downs (21”)
bwx1/1
25x10/10
25x10/10

Single Leg Hamstring Bridges (5 second holds)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Stretching
  
Comments: So this was supposed to be Tuesday workout. Tuesday’s gone with the wind. I spent Tuesday in a depressive funk and only ate, worked and slept. I ended up taking a nap after work and woke up only because I worried leaving a crockpot on for almost 24hrs would probably cause a fire. And my neck felt crappy. Took a bit of soft tissue work to get it to calm down. Elbows, wrists, shoulders and neck felt crap. I pushed off until the afternoon before I decided I wasn’t training this day or doing anything. And that I might be taking a hiatus. Took ibuprofen and went to bed. Found out in the morning the phones for my families family plan weren’t working right so I missed responses to stuff from Monday and Tuesday that showed up that morning. I was back in a better mood I guess after going into hibernation. Hadn’t completely shut the door on anything and I knew that I needed to take time to make the right decision. These are not ideal times. So in order to stay on track, I was going to need to do Tuesday’s workout today. During my lunch hour. So on to that. The warming up of band clamshells and TKEs with bands in the split stance. Only did the one set this time like Monday as far as warming up but did 2 second holds. Banded skater jumps again. Same as last week. I think I felt a little better with how I did these. Just trying to think of these as singles. Certainly feel like jumping off my left leg seems to be stronger. Axle cleans were up next and exact same as last week. In that same weight, same sets, same rest periods. However, I knew I needed to adjust things. Going from on the belt directly isn’t working at heavier weights, at least not consistent above 250lbs. So I need to get used to the other style again as that will be how I got to do this thing. It is kind of difficult to force in several bumps up the body because the weight is so light. I feel these got better as I went though. Noticing that there is slippage on the shirt with the axle. Hopefully won’t be an issue with the grip shirt (I’ll find out eventually). Straight arm pulldown things after that. No changes here. Same as it has been. Fine and good. On to the heavier stuff now. Where things get interesting. Axle band pulls were again up to bat. Advised that this was the last week of them in this training cycle. Understandable really as contest is Week 10 and this is Week 7. Same band setup as it has been. Change in that it was 6x2 instead of 5x3. Weight I was told to use 440-450lbs as long as it felt fast. That would be the key I guess. These axle pulls have been feeling good to me and have been good to me. Feeling strong. But since I had been a sad boy the past two days and not optimal, I went with 440lbs as my planned weights here. But I told myself if this felt easy, I’d add weight every 2 sets. It did so I did. So last two were with 450lbs. From there it was on to rows. Kind of. So what was listed seemed to indicate a quite cheaty style of bent over row with either axle or barbell (I went with barbell) and to have it be to lower abs and have it lower into an rdl. So less upper back and more lower back. More of a primer for deadlift. I had recently seen something another strength coach for strongman had mentioned called “neural rows” so I think this is what I was to do. Plan was work up in sets of 3-5 and then do a set of 10 with 2RIR. Since I was trying to get this done during lunch, I felt I had to move fast. I was already feeling pretty warm from the axle pulls and it was more a matter of seeing how this felt. I had done big jumps last week on the one arm rows so maybe I could get away with that here. I took big jumps here with hopes that I could do 365lbs. The working up sets I think were better but I got it done. Almost done the workout. Outside for the posterior stepdowns. Plan was same box height as last week and do 2x10 with the 25lbs weight. Suggestion was warm up with lower height boxes. I didn’t do that. My legs are warm, it’s more that lower ROM that needs to be acclimated to. More so the left leg. Thankfully, it only too me two attempts to be able to get a bodyweight rep and not have my knee lock up or seem give and not be in control. It took me like 4 times last week and even the one that was “ok” wasn’t that great. There were tolerable today. Maybe being out in the sun and not cover of darkness helped. Last thing was the single leg hamstring bridges. 2x10 this time and 5 second holds. I was told to rest between sides. Left leg is stronger than right on these. It was kind of peaceful looking up at the sky and the trees and seeing the lanternflies fluttering way up above. Had to wait until work was done before I could put everything away and then stretch. Didn’t feel like I needed to ice the knees tonight but I did get soft tissue work done.

September 19, 2022 – Week 7, Day 1

Warm Up Circuit

Axle Push Presses 
26x2
56x2
86x2
116x2
146x2
176x2
206x1
206x1
206x1
206x1
206x1
206x1
206x1
206x1

Close Grip Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x1
315x2
275x3
275x3
275x3

Comments: This was not a good workout. I should preface this with saying that I thought I had gotten over the bad one on Thursday last week but nope. I needed more rest. Just doing too much. I stopped the workout once I felt there was no point to it or anything really and ate dinner and went to bed. Still in a funk the following day and didn’t feel like doing anything or any kind of training. Ate maybe half my normal meals. Didn’t feel like going to Nationals anymore and just giving up. That’s how frustrated I was. I ended up sleeping for 1.5hrs after work that day and made myself get up to eat dinner. It also appears that my phone wasn’t working correctly Monday or Tuesday and stuff started going through Wednesday morning. But I feel back in the saddle and that I’ve had time to process things. Mention this because the proceeding stuff is the thoughts in the moment. So on with it. So feeling some aches in my upper body joints and the workload had been lessened a good bit for this workout. I did one set (rather than two) of wall slides and y raises with bands but did 2 second holds. This had been mentioned in my training to eventually reduce the warming up as we got closer. Seeing as how tough the last overhead workout was, this was the time. So the plan for the start here was axle push pressing with 65% for singles done EMOM style. No bands. Not as tough, recovery being allowed. I didn’t feel like wearing any support gear beyond wrist wraps with the light weight. I planned to do doubles working up in 30lbs jumps and then do the 8 singles. Weights were feeling heavy, 90lbs away from goal weight. I think hope was this was light enough that it wouldn’t be an issue and that I seem to get better as I do sets on speed work. Form didn’t seem to be great here. Felt like I was pushing out in front too much. I think bad habit of that with the band pressing and trying to have it be a solid press. Could also be from fatigue in the upper back and neck from all the pulls and farmer’s walk stuff. Pressing out in front has been a problem. It was a problem on the log at PA Dutch and it was an issue on axle at Battle at the Bridge. I was feeling very annoyed that these weren’t feeling great and that this was weight that I had been strict pressing comfortably earlier this year. Just kept putting in the time. Telling myself this was one of those put in work days to get back on track. Last rep was the only rep I was somewhat ok with. From there it was on to benching. Close grip stuff but not pauses or tempo. Goal was to do 305-315lbs for 3x3 with 2-3RIR. Depending on how I felt, I was going to pick either 305lbs or 315lbs to do. Things were feeling fine warming up. Similar to how they had felt when doing axle last week. So I had felt like 315lbs was fine. It was not. Just felt heavy today. I thought perhaps I could grind out these reps as I’ve been able to do that in the past. Nope. Got a double and the third rep stalled halfway and had to bring it down to the safety pins and bail. I was just not understanding this. My triceps have been feeling strong even if my shoulders had not. I’ve done this weight for a set of 9 reps in the past. Never really pushing the weights as of late but didn’t think I’d be getting less than 5 reps on them even now. Seeing as how that went. I was really fuming over this. My inability to be as strong as I should. I knew I couldn’t do 315lbs for the working sets today or even 305lbs. I had to lower the weight to 275lbs to get through these. First set was fine as it could be while I was holding back my frustration and each set got tougher, even with longer rests. Last set I misgrooved the second lift. I was very much done with the day but I had to sit and think what I was doing. I had three more exercises for the shoulders and triceps that were either light or just bands. Higher rep stuff and time under tension. It was probably going to be fatiguing. And was that something I needed right now if my shoulders are so nuked that I’m struggling on submaximal stuff? I also felt what was the point really of doing the other exercises if they aren’t helping. Eventually I just decided to put stuff away and call it there. Didn’t bother stretching or icing. Ate dinner and took ibuprofen before going to sleep. I was so frustrated. Was I the problem and I’m just this mediocre that I can’t progress beyond this point? Pressing has felt like it’s regressing since May really. My feelings of lack of progress on this one lift has me feeling embarrassed and not wanting to compete right now. Or ever. What is the point of this week in and week out toiling if there is nothing to show for it beyond sweat, joint pain, and feelings of inadequacy. That I have to retreat into myself at these kind of times and realize that if I were sharing my life with someone else, it would be a stressful burden when I cloister myself in my own head to repair. Such strong surges of emotion don’t tend to last as they are exhausting and hopefully I will figure it out. But right now I’m kind of lost.

September 17, 2022 – Week 6, Day 4

Patrick Stepdowns (3 second eccentrics)
bwx25/25 at 4”

One Legged Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts (opposite side)
60x10/10
60x10/10

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
155x3
155x3
155x3
205x2
245x2
295x2
335x2
385x8

Farmer’s Walks (16” pick)
Casual Pace
50x40’ (misc)
50x40’ (misc)
50x40’(misc)
Normal
140x40’(misc)
180x40’ (I-beam)
220x40’ (I-beam)
260x40’ (I-beam)
Drop and Turns 40’ (misc/I-beam)
290x80’/290x80’

Farmer’s Picks & Holds (16” pick, misc)
330x1/1/1+36 seconds

Sprint/Sandbag Carry/Backwards Sled Drags
80’/250x80’/385x80’
80’/300x80’/585x80’

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
ab’sx30
ab’sx30

Stretching
  
Comments: So Thursday hadn’t been great for morale. Even when it is only one thing, it can affect a large range of things. Like I’ve said, strength is my shield and when that takes a hit, things that normally don’t phase me can impact stuff. Confidence took a hit from that and I knew that it was going to take a bit to get myself back on track. I may not be firing on all cylinders and have to really asspull to get through some things. Still need to spend time figuring out axle now and for the future. I tend to fixate on things until I’m satisfied in the minimal sense. I tend to have high standards when it comes to myself. I say the minimum as if I made it so that I had to reach my actual standards I’d be truly satisfied with, I’d be depressed and full of self-loathing for constantly being well short of where I want to be. And I know that isn’t healthy so lower the goal posts so I can function. Friday was a bit chaotic and I was still in that acute phase of processing so rather than try to force things, I took time to just sit down and put out thoughts rather than go for a walk and make sure that I did all the soft tissue work I didn’t do the past day. I kind of didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I wanted to sleep more but guilt kept me from having it be restful beyond 90 minutes past my normal wake time for work. Nervous about training and meeting expectations of myself after the blow to my confidence that I knew had taken a mental toll. I think also was that I was expecting bad traffic due to construction. But it turns out last minute they changed the dates again but appears they are going to do it during the work week instead to piss off more people. Really glad I don’t commute right now into the city. Drive seemed smooth but the usual trouble spot did seem to take longer than it should’ve this day. Again, later training day start and very few people there. And people kind of gone by the time I might’ve wanted them for things like commands and timing. So starting off with the Patrick stepdowns to start. Same as last week with it being 4” and 25 reps for the one set. I feel I was ready for these and how the firm surface would feel this time. Less fatigue I felt but more so again in the left calf. On to the offset rdls with the dumbbell for 2x10. Notes were to keep these at only 60lbs or so. More for activation of glutes than pushing things. So with making these about 60% of what I was doing, it was a good bit easier to recover and took no rest between sides and only a slight rest between sets. From there it was on to ssb squats. Plan for today was to do a top set of 8-10 with 2-3RIR. Warming up plans were to do several triples with the bar and a pair of plates added until I felt that things were feeling good. More reps and sets but not more weight. This did seem to work for that. From there, I did 40-50lbs jumps for doubles. Now this is where my nerves were kicking in. See as mentioned, plan was a smooth set of 8-10 with 2-3RIR. And I wasn’t sure if I should be trying to do same weight as last week (385lbs) or less. I’ve done 365x12, 375x8 and 385x6. Last week, I mentioned that I felt like I could do 385x8-9 with 0RIR. So it was risky to try this, especially with the worry I’d screw this up like axle. My body seemed to agree on that and I couldn’t stop burping and retching. Water welling in my eyes from the reaction. I needed to calm down. I got set finally and did the thing. Stopped at 8 reps as I was slowing down. Definitely had 2RIR there and maybe 3RIR. So fine with that. Technically a PR. George called over to me after the set and I was worried that he was going to say I had cut them high or something. But he indicated that my upper back was rounded a lot and that I was pulling down on the handles. I think that I’m doing that to keep my lats tight and because of knee discomfort so shortening the leverages so less shearing force on knees. Maybe. Also when I had pushed up, it felt like the bar was doing to slide off my back today. Then it was time for farmer’s walk. I had felt some relief that I didn’t mess up squat weight choice. Farmer’s with the actual working sets I wasn’t worried about. It was more after that from what was planned. At least it wasn’t a concern until I got into farmer’s. So plan was to do the contest run but only with the lighter weight. So 290lbs for a total of 160’ (drop and turns at 40’). I figured it was probably best to use two sets of handles to work transitions rather than just turn and go with the same pair four times on that top set. I’d been using the Titan Fitness handles up to this point as I feel they are probably closest to contest as far as handle diameter but they aren’t great for drop and turns. They tend to “bounce” and the quality of the metal warps from drops and the design with the pins has them dig into my legs depending on which way I grip them. So I’d rather not deal with all that when trying to work with contest conditions on more stable implements. So plan was using the 50lbs handles and the 122lbs I-beams that are both 16”. I was advised to warm up in 40’ runs or do 20’ with drop and turns if I felt that needed work. I figured just the 40’ would be fine. Suggestion had been to see how the handles reacted if I just “dropped” them rather then follow them down and see how things went. I think also as a way to save energy for the working set. The other handles with the big feet to them splayed out slightly but where fine to drop and go I feel. The I-beams not so much, they get top heavy and will fall over. Contest handles are mix of the big feet handles and the Titan Fitness (handle width). I was feeling decent warming up. Until I got to 260lbs. That pick felt heavy. Like how I’d expect 290lbs to feel on a bad day. So this was an “oh shit” moment as I was to do 30lbs more per hand for 4 times the distance. And I had heavier stuff planned after this run. I was worried that I wouldn’t finish this because I couldn’t pick up the weights. I guess when you add 60lbs to your working sets of deadlift, it pulls from other places. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park although I was probably going to be looking like I was just walking rather than running with the weights. I started with the other handles first as while the same weight, I felt that the leverages might make these feel “easier” to pick up and have the I-beams be the “heavier set”. Slower than I would’ve liked but I got through it. I hesitated slightly on the repick as the handles had kind of splayed out and one was more forward than the other but I knew I had to go and not worry about that. I was feeling beat so I wasn’t moving as fast in the transitions as I’d like. But it wasn’t so much as going fast as going fast and not screwing up the bracing and tension to insure I could stand up with the weights. Pick number three was good and got to the other side. One more. Got the pick and my hamstrings were on fire. I could only take small steps and just hope that my grip would hold out until the end. Finished it in under a minute. I feel like that there will be people that just run out of time on this. Unfortunately not done with these. I had hoped that it would just be this but I was required to do more pick and holds. Unlike last time, I wasn’t instructed to 10 second holds for each pick and then do the longer pick. Just three picks and hold the last one. I was really worried here as 290lbs had felt like a miracle to get through today after how that 260lbs felt. And here I was to do 325-335lbs for three times and a hold. I went with the in-between of 330lbs and also since this was the heavier weight of the farmer’s walk and the light weight for the deadlift medley. This was going to require a good bit of grit on my part. I felt like this weight could be stapled to the ground but had to ignore that and just keep pushing the world away. Got it up once. A little pause to gather everything again. Another. Some of the weights came off in the back and I had to put them back on. A little hesitation as the handles were splayed a little bit but I just went with it. Got that final pick. And now to hold. The easy part. I counted to 40 and put it down. I counted a little fast as it was like 36 seconds but still good as I did have a little more time there before I felt my skin would tear. I had been terrified of failure here but I got it. Considering the effort needed, I feel that fully rested I can do the farmer’s medley and be ready the next day for the deadlift medley. I just have to be able to recover fully. Sled drag again but adding in a sandbag. This couldn’t be easy today either. So instead of the somewhat interesting job/sprint and then the implement for 50’, I was being made to do it for 80’ lengths. And add a sandbag to it. So sprint 80’, sandbag carry 80’ and then sled drag 80’. The show is 40’. Since inside I can only do 50’ runs on smooth concrete and the 80’ area is uphill/downhill on turf, I had to go outside on uneven concrete. This kind of works as the it is downhill and then uphill regardless of where I do things because the foundation sinks a bit in one spot. So it will start easy and then be difficult the last half for drags. First set was to b 80-90% of the first bag (309lbs) and the sled be more speed focused. With the longer distance and uncertainty of the terrain, I went with the 80% option and used a weight I know I’ve done comfortable for the sled. Sprinting is just so awkward for me and it really does fatigue. First run was fine but then afterwards I was feeling the sled drag part of things. Ugh. The final set was to be first bag of medley and then a sled drag that was to suck. I felt that using the 300lbs vs the 306lbs made more sense since the 300lbs bag is larger and more likely going to be like contest using those bags. The 306lbs is smaller and denser so harder to pick but easier to carry. I then had the idea to place that sandbag on top of the sled to work on the placement and to not have to worry about loading up the sled with a lot of weight to put away. The sprint and sandbag were fine. The sled drag started out ok and I was worried maybe I went too light. Then I hit the point of the incline and it was the right weight at that point. Finished and had to pop off all the belts and breath deeply for like 2 minutes before I felt I could go on with my day. Thankfully, last thing was just the band leg curls for 2x20-30 with plenty of reps in reserve. Same as last time but I had to alter things. One, the setup I had last time was covered up with tires and two, I forgot my bands this week. The gym had newer bands that were similar and I found another setup and did that instead. These were fine. I felt no tension or discomfort in my left lower leg like I had briefly last weekend. Put stuff away and stretched out before driving home. Ate a bunch of tacos and iced my knees before bed.

September 15, 2022 – Week 6, Day 3

Axle Clean and Push Presses (clean once)
46x9
96x6
136x3
166x1
196x1
226x1
256x1
291x0
291x1
276x0
276x0

Axle Rack Position Supports
276x5 seconds
326x15 seconds

Reverse Band Seated Axle Pin Presses (10” ROM, 45lbs deloaded bottom, 0lbs top)
226x2
256x2
286x2
316x3
336x3
356x3

Paused Banded Face Pulls w/Fat Gripz Extremes (low anchor point, 3 seconds)
mmbx12
mmbx12
mmbx12

Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions/Barbell Standing Triceps Stretches
lbx20/20 – 45x20 seconds
lbx20/20 – 45x20 seconds

Stretching
  
Comments: Got busy and distracted the other day so didn’t set aside time for soft tissue work. Axle has not been kind to me this year. At least when it comes to the clean and then press. Frustratingly so. The workout write up will reflect that frustration and trying to be rational, calm and refocus and figure out where to go. The only thing that suffered injury on the day was my pride. So the plan for the session was work up in singles to a top double (1RIR) and then take off 10% for another double. I was thinking of different things here and the range depending on how I felt was between 276lbs and 296lbs. In retrospect, I’m not sure what exactly was the right decision here. I’ll get to that. I had a bit of anxious energy so sometimes that is good and other times not so much. Stuff was feel strong and smooth warming up. I was feeling good and was ready for the top double. So the plan had been 276lbs (which would match the single two week’s prior) and other numbers being 281lbs for most I’ve done as a double since working with Drew and 291lbs for the most I’ve done on axle since 2016 for a double. With the pressure of feeling like I need to be doing better and feeling like if any time, it was now as far as how I felt, I went with the higher number. Barely missed the catch to the shoulders from the belt clean and it fell in a way that it wasn’t right on the mats so I had to treat it as another attempt unlike when I missed with 276lbs and got it like 10 seconds later. If I had gotten it with how it went, it was going to be struggle. Second try and I got the weight but it was a tough single and couldn’t get another rep. So that wasn’t good. I thought I could still salvage things by dropping down to 276lbs to get a double and then do the 90% drop off of that. But nope. I missed the clean that first try and 18 seconds later came back and got it but the weight just felt so damn heavy on my shoulders and I couldn’t get it past chin level. I just gave up at that point. So much anger, frustration and embarrassment at how axle clean and press is going. I feel like I’m putting in so much work and then get slapped down by things. That I’m going backwards in some regards. Why am I not able to match what I did over 6yrs ago? What is missing besides being younger? I feel like this event is in the way of my success at this point. Why am I not better at this? I’m kind of at a loss. Try to learn something from this and that is perhaps that the belt clean isn’t for me on heavier weights. It works great for like 225lbs so this is like a “viper press” style which only will work on light weight for me and contest weight is never light for me on pressing. So may need to revert to more “bumps” up the body to get that flip to work. But that doesn’t answer the questions of fatigue. But this hurt and I felt like just shutting everything down for the day. Even thinking about withdrawing from Nats and taking a break. Really sucks when one stupid thing is enough to feel like nothing is working despite progressing on 5 over the other 6 events. This wasn’t that long of a workout and nothing was as frustrating as axle so I kept my head on and went forward with the workout. Rack supports again. Maybe last week of them. So it appears that the percentages were perhaps to have been based off of the projected 1rm that I was aiming for at Nats. I had been using my actual best axle push press out of the rack since working with Drew (310lbs). Really, I had hoped to have  a shot at 325lbs at show so I guess I should’ve been using that. But seeing as how I’ll be lucky to get past 305lbs, I should aim for that now. Plan was to do a set of 20 seconds. Supposed to do 100 – 102.5% and if basing off of 310lbs the high end would be 317lbs. I decided to just do 326lbs. Still in the range. It certainly felt the heaviest of any of the holds. Whether it accomplished what I wanted I don’t know. Don’t feel like I’m bending under the weight. I think it accomplished what I wanted maybe but I’m not sure now with how I’m feeling mentally to really access but I feel that I’ll probably be more worn if we do it again on week 8 two weeks out with more weight. With having put out a big effort and then failing and just realizing my strength isn’t what I thought it would be, stuff that I’ve been passively ignoring with my shield of strength might become more apparent in in stiffness and soreness. More lockout work. Still doing reverse bands and seated with back support. Advised to either keep same height or lower another 2”. I figured I’d rather do that and adjust things as odds are I’d be feeling worn after missing several times and this would be a bigger change up. Also probably be closer to the no more than 20% of the goal as far as weight. So increasing the ROM meant adjusting bands again. Took off even more band assistance to get it to be about 45lbs. Each time the drop in weight is substantial with the new starting point. Plan was work up in doubles to 3x3 going 7.5 – 8.5 RPE. I thought I had things figured out for this. 316lbs seemed a good start and it felt fine enough. 20lbs jump I thought might be a bit much but if felt pretty comfortable. Not much tougher than the previous set. Even thinking I might have to do 375lbs to get it right range. Nope, next jump of 20lbs about stopped me. That ended up being 0RIR when I was supposed to leave 1RIR. So still not the best workout session. I did at least do over 300lbs for reps including band assistance for the start and fully holding weight at lockout. I think for next time (assuming a next time) that reverse bands be at 10” ROM height and without bands be 8” ROM and leave the 6” ROM out of it entirely. Lighter stuff to finish things up. Face pull variation again. 3x10-12 with holds and to be like axle assistance. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to get things to feel like they had last week as far as setup. In my frustration, I eventually just switched to something different using just the one band and the Fat Gripz. Made sure I did longer holds to make up for the lower band tension. Holding the grips like this was tough on the wrists and really was stressing the ring and pinky fingers. Last thing was triceps. I think I did this right. It looks like I was to do band extensions like I have been but no long eccentrics. Just pump reps. And then stretch out with barbell after each set. Didn’t say how long so I did 20 seconds to match the reps I did. Put stuff away and stretched before eating pot roast.

September 13, 2022 – Week 6, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Band Resisted Skater Jumps (mb)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Axle Cleans
86x1
106x1
126x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1
146x1

Paused Bent Over Straight Arm Band Lat Pulls (2 seconds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10

14” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps)
110x2
200x2
290x2
380x2
470x1
540x1
600x3
540x1+1+1 (25 seconds cluster reps)

Paused 12” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps, 3 seconds 2” off the ground)
440x3
440x3

One Arm Dumbbell Rows
64x5/5
116x5/5
166x12/12
141x18/18

Posterior Single Leg Step Downs (21”)
25x10/10
25x10/10
25x10/10

Single Leg Hamstring Bridges (5 second holds)
bwx12/12
bwx12/12

Stretching
  
Comments: Starting to feel the pressure for Nats. I felt I had more time but really looking at it and thinking about how many touches or weeks on certain things really showing that time is short. Then again, there has only been one show I’ve ever trained for that I felt like I was 100% ready for in my entire time doing this and that was the show this past March. And that’s out of like 40. But there is that pressure that is present that I can usually ignore when something isn’t coming up right away. When I know I still got time. Almost feels like it snuck up on me. I didn’t lose track of time but I didn’t really think on how the time left kind of breaks down when I truly think on it. Things seem to be finally clicking but I’d like another 10 weeks to truly feel prepared. But I can’t change time. So on to training. The warming up of band clamshells and TKEs with bands in the split stance have been good. Change to the bounding exercise. Do the skater jumps one at a time with band tension. So that was a little different. Not really getting much hang time. I feel like pushing off on the right and landing on the left seems a little tougher. The difference between sides is marginal. Jump out and walk back to start. Since I was anchoring to one spot, it made sense to just do all the reps and sets together rather than get out of band tether and rest. I didn’t really need rest for these without the band when going from leg to leg. Axle cleans were up next. Singles this time for EMOM. 5% more weight so going off of what I had been doing, this was a little heavier. These felt better as I went. Did 20lbs jumps working up. I feel like I was taking less than EMOM rest the past few weeks really but that was me walking around and staying put can feel like an eternity when it’s something fast like cleans. While I was expecting these to be heavier for the plan, I’m glad these have been a lighter and allowed me to kind of get that more aggressive style into these. The controlled pick works better for log clean and press. Straight arm pulldown things after that. These have stayed constant. Trying to get feeling more comfortable as far as the deadlift position. While the TKEs help with knees and the clam shells with hips/glutes, the lower legs and ankles still aren’t quite warmed up for the bottom position movement so I did some sitting down to stretch a little to see if that alleviated any of the minor discomfort. Axle deadlifting time. Plan for today was work up to a top set of 2-3 with 1-2RIR. Work up in doubles to 60-70% and then singles. So I had been entertaining going for 560lbs to maybe 570lbs as the highest. But that was before realizing how close I was to contest. Further out then that was fine. Still thinking that being in the projected max range of 635lbs being within 90% of contest weight was fine. The bare minimum to give it a shot on the day really. But not satisfied with that. So I wanted to see what hypothetically I’d need to hit for a triple with 2RIR to be on track for half at 95%. Pretty much need to do 600lbs. I should be able to do this. Yes, it is a 60lbs jump from last time but I had felt I had left a bit in the tank more than I should’ve last time. I’ve done 600lbs for a triple before raw from 15” when prepping for PA Dutch before switching to a suit and I had felt like I had 2RIR at that time. So this should be something I can do if I’m feeling good. I should be doing. Go up in plate jumps and then smaller jumps after 470lbs. Last time’s weight for a single. Ok, not super easy but not something to deter me. Got myself ready and put on a song to go all out to. I’d either have sweet success or bitter defeat. Anxiety always has that Pascal’s wager. Being right is normal and fine but being wrong is devasting and will set me back. So going above certainty is hard. Definitely 2RIR or more here when I finished. Let out a shout of triumph. This is where I need to be at and where I need to move past. So cooled down a bit to collect myself as the down set plan here was 90% of that for a triple with it being cluster reps. Rest 15-30 seconds. I felt that what would feel best was to do 15 seconds and then after that strap back into the bar. Practice that motion rather than staying attached to the bar like when I did these for suited axle pulls. Treat them the same and rebrace. The reps got tougher as I went but still seemed to go smooth. After that it was time to take it all apart to load weight back on it 2” lower. Time for 12” pulls for more pauses 2” off the ground. This time being triples and 2-3 seconds. I went with 3 seconds because pain. Weight suggestion came out to 432lbs to 445lbs so went with 440lbs (stick with the 100lbs drop like last time as well). I felt I could do more but man are these rough. With that, deadlifting with the axle was done for this week. One arm dumbbell rows were up next. The limiters were taken off today. Advised to not be strict or holds. Let the heave and slop flow to have this be more like how I’d do an arm-over-arm pull. It really does surprise me every time when I do pauses and strict on rows and then get allowed to be a wild man again and make previous numbers look like nothing. Now the plan had been to see how things felt and maybe do 166lbs (the loadable handle with 3 sets of 25’s on it) for the top set. See, plan was warm up and do a top set of 10-12 reps with 2RIR and then take off 15% of that for another set of 15-20 reps with 3-4RIR. These were feeling good and I took bigger jumps than I usually would. Like 50lbs jumps. No support gear, no chalk. I feel if I used those, I’d have needed more weight probably and maxed out this dumbbell honestly. This would be good to break back in. It’s not the most weight I’ve done on these but I don’t think I’ve really pushed these kind of reps with this weight. Certainly not with the weight used on the down set. That was beating a few rep PRs and weight ones. I’ll need to keep up the hand skin health stuff to make sure I don’t tear any calluses. Wrists and grip was ok despite recent aches and what not. And that was the end of the stuff I was going to feel strong on tonight. So the next thing was up to me as far as a unilateral leg exercise that wouldn’t bother the knees a ton. It was my choice but it was strongly suggested I stick to the posterior stepdowns but use 25lbs or so and increase the height of the step more. I hadn’t gone this high as I knew I’d have to set things up outside as I’d be hitting the ceiling in the garage. Bench isn’t as sturdy as the plate tower I was using. Plan was 3x10. This was frustrating to start. I did the mobility stuff and was feeling fine but when it came time to do these I was having issues. Those last few inches just seemed to be a problem with bodyweight. Knees were cranky and I could here them being like rice crispies in the right knee. That was the one that was able to do them right away. My left just seemed to not what to do these today and I was getting frustrated with my knee discomfort and just it feeling like it was locked at certain point on the eccentric and wouldn’t bend any more. But sometimes the answer is more weight. Maybe I’d get my act together if I was holding a weight. That did seem to do it but the left leg was behind the right one on these. Things did seem to get smoother as I went but balance was still kind of tricky with the bench. I may need to anchor it down next time. Hamstring exercise to finish up the evening. Single leg bridges with 3-5ct holds and doing 2 sets of 12-20 reps at RPE 7. I had a feeling that these would be tough for me just with how my hamstrings act. I figured the longer holds would be more beneficial for me and knew that getting 12 reps would be the goal as these were tough. Tough in a way that lit up the hamstrings but wasn’t hard on the tendons and such. I took very short rest between legs but a proper rest between sets. Like the stepdowns with the bench, I’ll need to anchor this next time because it was shifting on me as I fatigued and making things difficult. Put stuff away and ate a roast before stretching out. Iced knees before bed.

September 12, 2022 – Week 6, Day 1

Warm Up Circuit

Axle Push Presses w/ bands (+22lbs bottom/+40lbs top)
42x2
72x2
102x2
132x2
162x2

Cluster Reps (10 seconds)
192x1+1
192x1+1
192x1+1
192x1+1
192x1+1

Paused Close Grip Bench Presses (2 seconds)
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x3
225x1
255x1
285x3
285x3
285x3

Paused Single Arm Dumbbell Y Raises on Incline Bench (3 seconds)
10’sx8/8
10’sx8/8
10’sx8/8

Full ROM Band Lateral Raises
µb’sx25
µb’sx25

Incline Dumbbell Tate Extensions w/bands 
40’s+mmb’sx15
40’s+mmb’s+mb’sx15

Stretching
  
Comments: Wasn’t feeling too beat from Saturday. Left shoulder a little achy but has been the case after sandbag over shoulder or to shoulder stuff. Warming up as has been the case with the bands for the wall slides and y raises. Seemed to be needed today. Right hand knuckles seem to be ok. Not hot really but very humid and muggy so I had the fans going to get air moving. Axle again. Really wish I was feeling stronger and better about this event. For all the squeezing I’m doing, not feeling like getting my equal parts juice. Same as last week with it being 5x2 and option of 10-15 seconds rest. Same weight and rests as last week. Seems to be the plan of doing same weight for each time. I had decided that I’d go for the 10 seconds for the cluster reps. Use that as kind of the progression. For some reason, I didn’t feel like I was getting as good of lower body drive. Like I was doing the same movement but that I was facing more resistance. I know that sometimes with things like “speed work” or several sets of low reps for things like squats that my first few aren’t the crispest. So kind of hoping for that scenario. Still wasn’t feeling it on the working sets. I didn’t think that I had worked my legs that hard Saturday (or that I should be still so fatigued from Thursday pressing). I think what finally got things to go for me was realizing that I was fighting the lockout. I was aiming to do more than necessary. The bar just needs to be up overhead, I don’t have to have it tossed back and over. Granted it is easier to balance as far as center of gravity at that point. But it kind of is fighting how I seem to be push pressing. I’m more of a hip drive guy and the weight goes forward and I go under it. Additionally, the pressing lockout stuff I’m slightly in front so it is shoulders and triceps. So there was that extra resistance from the shoulders through. And perhaps that isn’t needed. Once I figured that, it felt like it was one motion and easy. From there it was on to the close grip benching. Plan was 3x3 with 2 second pauses. 20lbs more than what I did last week with the plan being 2-3RIR and report back on that last set. Depending on how things felt, I was fine with doing same weight all sets or slightly increasing (which had kind of been the plan with ssb squats Saturday). While lowering the weight was feeling pretty comfortable, the pauses and subsequent pressing of the weight didn’t feel as comfortable and easy. Not always sure with benching as I seem to be able to grind out reps on this. Heavy stuff for the workout was done. Went into the garage for some lighter dumbbell stuff. So still raises on incline bench with pauses. Y raises being 3x8 with option of 2-3ct holds. But single arm variation. Idea being same as the face pulls Thursday in that something to keep working posterior deltoid structures and change up and not add too much mileage to it. I figured 10lbs dumbbell would work here and go with the longer hold. Balance was a little tricky here. Rest was about 60 seconds between sides and sets. Was a nice change up. Back outside lateral raises. No plates today. Bands only. I’ve done them normal and with pauses. This time indicated pump sets of 15-25 reps with 5RIR but to go through similar ROM as the Lu raises. So that took a little thinking. I was going to aim higher reps as I knew that lower rep range would probably have some strain on elbow joints at some point. Micro bands were enough here. Last thing was Tate’s again on incline with bands. Same weight. Advised to adjust band tension so that 2x12-15 with 2-3RIR. One suggestion was to adjust load if necessary. As mentioned, next jump is to 70lbs. I wasn’t sure how things would go with using monster minis but I realized they were too easy. Added mini bands to that (so essentially triple the tension from last week) and that finally felt like I was in the right effort range. So either this next time or adding weight. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching and icing my legs. Realizing I don’t have a lot of time left before Nats at this point. I wish I had more time.

September 10, 2022 – Week 5, Day 4

Patrick Stepdowns (3 second eccentrics)
bwx25/25 at 4”

One Legged Dumbbell Romanian Deadlifts (opposite side)
50x3/3
75x3/3
100x10/10
100x10/10

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x8
155x6
205x4
245x2
295x2
335x2
385x4
385x4
385x4

I-Beam Farmer’s Deadlifts (16” pick)
122x1
152x1
182x1
212x1
242x1
267x2
267x2
267x2
267x2
267x2

Titan Fitness Farmer’s Shrugs (16” pick, heels on slant board)
220x35

Sandbag Over Shoulders (left)
175x1
205x1
225x1
250x1
205x1/225x1/250x1/275x1 in 21.70 seconds
225x1/250x1/275x1/300x1 in 22.74 seconds

Sandbag Carries (turns at 50’)
306x200’

Seated Band Hamstring Curls
ab’sx30
ab’sx30 

Stretching
  
Comments: Even though a shorter work week, it had me feeling worn by the end of it. Got a flu shot after work. Last time I was training for Nationals, I had put that off as I guess I was worried that I’d have to slow down or that it might make me a little sick because with the stress I was putting on my body trying to prep for it. But that delay that year was not a smart decision as I ended up getting the flu at Nationals that year (and for the only time in my life) and that was bad enough I was out sick for like 2 weeks. Never again. No pain or anything afterwards. Just annoyed having to wait. And small talk. I have a hard time with tone in conversations if it isn’t made blatantly obvious. The pharmacist indicated there was “no issue locating my deltoids” and I don’t know if that was statement of fact or potentially flirtatious. In either case, I just chuckle. Plan had been in the morning to get up and get my driver’s license picture updated but I didn’t want to force that and cut my sleeping recovery for just that to try and fit it in before training because only open in the morning. I got time to get that done. I’m still good for like another month. Out to train and drive was decent. I try to decompress when I go for walks to kind of get my thoughts clear and think about stuff but sometimes a drive can be just as helpful. There wasn’t really anyone there today. Wasn’t too sure why. I was a little later but not by a lot and I didn’t feel so late that I’d have missed the tail end of other people’s workouts. And it didn’t seem like there was anything going on this weekend. So only a few people here today. Noticed on the board that there appeared to be a powerlifting meet coming up with listing for volunteers. I guess I maybe had seen that meet listed previously but didn’t think it was at the gym. But apparently it is so that will require some adjustments to training in two weeks’ time. So on to the training for today. Only thing that I was somewhat concerned with was the knuckles on the right hand that were still kind of achy and stiff from Thursday. This session would either make things feel worse or would make it feel better. Thankfully it was the make it feel better kind of session. Sometimes more weight is the answer. Patrick stepdowns to start as has been the case for this training cycle. Change had been to having these be for 25 reps with 2-3ct eccentrics (I was going to do the 3ct) and lowering the height to 4”. Not much difference really but the added reps were noticed and funny enough having things be firm seemed to increase balance but had me feeling more fatigue in the lower calf and muscles around the heel and ankle. So that was different and probably a good idea to keep a rotation in stability of surfaces. From there it was the offset rdls with the dumbbell for 2x10. 100lbs is pretty much where I’m at for these as the next jump is 125lbs with the odd oversized handles or 130lbs with regular handles. Not exactly good ideas to jump in. Other option would be bringing in my own long dumbbell handle. But this seems like a good spot anyways. Can always make things tougher with shorter rests between sides and sets and more control on the eccentric. Safety squat bar squats were up next as has been the case. Plan here was 3x4 with 3-5 minutes rest and leaving 2-3RIR. Weight was to be between 77.5% and 80% as long as I could keep it feeling 2-3RIR. Continuing that complaining of this feeling heavy and taking a long ass time for things to feel right and warm. Did 40-50lbs jumps all the way up as my plan was to do 385lbs for the sets so a little bit in between. Depending on how I was feeling, I was thinking of starting there and adding 5lbs each set. But only if I felt that I could keep it 2RIR. And that is the thing. That first set, it felt like it was 2RIR with how it felt. Same with the second set. Last set finally I felt like things were moving well and I felt like I had 4RIR and maybe 5RIR with it getting really ugly. Which is kind of frustrating when it feels damn heavy and then looking at videos it doesn’t seem like I’d be feeling like 2RIR on those first two sets. I seem to need a lot of sets or I just need to be feeling like all the sets matter rather than just the last one. Not sure if there is a way to “fix” that. I don’t seem to have that issue with the banded block pulls. After the squats. It was the farmer’s deadlifts. Indications appear to be this was going to be the last session of them as this before switching to heavier stuff on different days and adding in skill work towards the arm-over-arm pull. Plan here was 5x2 with 15lbs increase from last week and keeping 60 seconds rest. The smaller jumps had felt good last time. So 30lbs jumps each single all the way up. One of the suggestions was to regrip after each rep for the medley but I felt that I’d stick to what I was doing as I wasn’t wearing my “farmer’s walk” footwear on these (and hadn’t been) and was wearing what I would for the deadlift medley. These were feeling heavier than I would’ve liked but I just kind of had to accept it like last week. Despite feeling slow, this was a repeatable effort as I was able to do these with 40 seconds rest between sets. That hadn’t been intentional. Last time it was 60 seconds and I had walked further but I was worried I’d take too long and I had the handles further away from the doorway compared to last time. From there it was to the farmer’s shrugs. Indication this might be the last week these show up this training cycle to add more work for sandbag stuff. As written, it indicated 20lbs more than last time for set of 30-35 reps. But also said RPE 8. This exercise has been like RPE 4 or something for the past two times it has shown up. At least for the shrugging part. The pick is more taxing really than the actual movement. Maybe I have muscle memory from back when I had to do all the rehabbing to get back to this point in 2017 where I would have to do high rep shrugs with light weight without straps. So I figured that I’d do more weight and get it closer to the RPE 8 range. So I added 40lbs to the proposed 20lbs. I felt that was ok with how about this weight felt warming up for the picks. Pick was a little odd (the slant board) but it felt fine. Probably the closest these have been to feeling like something. Still shy of that RPE 8. Probably like RPE 6 for the shrugs. From there it was on to the more technical stuff for the workout that was event specific. Sandbag over the shoulder stuff. Plan here was to warm up in singles and then do two runs using 4 sandbags. First being 80% of the first 4 in the series at the show and the second being 90% (with option to add another bag if it felt too easy). Idea with things being medley run being easier than the rep set at the end of the medley last time with the misload and the second set feeling about that. I’ve been watching other competitors doing this event and trying to dissect things. The style I’m using might not be the most efficient but it feels the most comfortable and safest for me. But can still use some fine tuning. Unlike how I was doing these the first two sessions, set things up how I felt they’d probably be like at contest. So bags spaced out and upright. Lying down seems to be best for me with my style but probably not going to get to do that. Warming up didn’t feel amazing. Stuff felt slow and heavier. The knocking down the bag certainly adds some time but I do kind of have to do that to get it balanced before going for it. I had also decided that I needed to do the larger sized 250lbs bag rather than the more compact one. The size was going to be the issue as opposed to the weight here. So I think that it being a little tougher than I was expecting that first single also wasn’t motivation for the upcoming stuff. I need to think of the event and how to prep. Remembering how things went at the March show with not getting a chance to warm up and getting light headed. I’m going to have to try and get something at Nats with the lightest bag being used or something like it to be minimally prepared. I’m also noticing that there is a moment where the bag is going across the body that I have a blind spot and I’ll have to make sure that I step forward just right so that I’m at the next bag for the transition and moving on to the next with minimal time loss. I had noticed that last time but I wasn’t rushing that session. So first run I was nervous but the first three bags felt lighter then when I did them for warming up singles. Only had a slight hesitancy with the 250lbs bag as it kind of got caught and my head was in the way but I adjusted. The 275lbs bag I had a little hesitancy with it. I’ve not used this bag in 20 months in some fashion besides loading and unloading out of my car last week. And only for short distance carries and some rows. So not at technical as launching from my lap over my shoulder. But it felt fine balance wise. So now it was time to bump everything up 25lbs or so and move on down the line. I’d done the 300lbs before in March as part of shouldering medley first time touching it. I’d done 306lbs for a few reps so I knew it could be done. This was a see how it goes kind of thing. These were to be smooth and not have it be like 2-3 bags being grinders. If the 300lbs went up and over easy enough, I’d do another rep (rather than bring out the next heaviest bag). Moved through the first three decently. Less hesitation on both the 250lbs and the 275lbs bag. The 300lbs was a little trickier and didn’t quite get it high enough for it to be easily shoved over. It wasn’t easy enough for me to feel that a double was a smart thing to do. End it on a good note. Only a second slower with the heavier weights so that is good. Then it was on to carries. Sticking with the 306lbs bag. Because why not. Plan was just one good long carry with it, 150’-200’. Not specified if with turns or not but I did turns since I’d rather not go like 200’ away with it and have to wheel it back. Turns make it tougher anyways. I felt that with the other sessions (150’ with drops every 50’ and 100’ for 2 sets with 30 seconds rest) that 200’ was the goal. And I did it comfortably enough. Decided rather than drop at the finish line to just put it back against the wall. Save me some effort later since I had to put away all the sandbags. Last thing for the session was hamstrings. Lower intensity from the glute ham raises that have been the case. Band leg curls for 2x20-30 with plenty of reps in reserve. I brought my own bands for this as the ones there are quite worn and I’ve had to use two bands per leg to get enough resistance. Took a bit to get a good setup and right amount of tension. It is probably good that the intensity of the hamstring accessory work has been dropped down now as the left lower leg that had the strain last year was aching a little today. Put stuff away and stretched before heading home.

September 8, 2022 – Week 5, Day 3

Axle Clean and Push Presses
46x5
76x3
106x2
136x1
166x1
196x1
226x1
226x1
226x1
226x1

Axle Push Presses
136x2
186x2
226x1
256x1
286x3
265x3
265x3

Reverse Band Seated Axle Pin Presses (8” ROM, 55lbs deloaded bottom, 0lbs top)
316x2
366x2
406x2
426x4
426x4

Paused Banded Face Pulls w/Fat Gripz Extremes (low anchor point, 1 second)
mmb’sx12
mmb’sx12
mmb’sx12

Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (5 second eccentric)
lbx15/15
lbx12/12 
lbx10/10

Stretching
  
Comments: Just feeling like no brakes and no breaks when it comes to work this week. Not enough hours in the day to decompress from it and get all the things afterwards done. Or enough time to get everything I need to get done. Didn’t help that the system stopped working 1hr before quitting time so that meant work for tomorrow morning to be done before starting on the new day’s work. Soft tissue work had not been a much of a thing on Wednesday but I got to eat good bit of burritos. This was the lighter week for the clean and press. Usually this is clean every rep but this time the planned working sets were just singles so warming up I did just one clean to get the shoulders and stuff warm since I’d be doing a lot more of that later in the session. So as things were put down for today, I was to work up to 75% for 4 singles with 60-90 seconds rest. Indication was that this rest as opposed to EMOM as wanted these to be crisp and technically good as I can make them and not introduce any slop. I felt that depending on how warming up felt, I could probably do this EMOM style and still have things be good. Right shoulder was feeling a little achy warming up but things were moving well. So with the time for the working weight, I decided to go with the EMOM style of sets and rest. Felt like it was moving well to me. Left arm was feeling a little tension (under hand) but not out of the ordinary. Learning to accept and believe that I got the bar at the right spot despite the material being harder to tactilely locate at the start of the flip motion on my stomach. This was good and all but I still feel like 225lbs should feel even lighter than it did. That I should be doing more weight on overhead to be competitive. I’m doing two push press sessions a week so hopefully the fruits of the labor will be more apparent when the deload and peak start. From there, it was axle out of the rack. Plan for this was to work up in doubles and/or singles to a top triple (1-2RIR) and then take a little off of that for 2x3. Suggested had been 278lbs. I feel like I need to be comfortably repping 300lbs or more to be improving. I know that’s not how this works with how long I’ve been at this. Rarely is progress sudden and exorbitant on the staples. Fear of not being as strong as I have been. Stuff seeming to feel heavy. Maybe not as powerful an effort. Maybe I’m just feeling worn from week on week on with some stuff. Tell myself this is the building phase. I felt I had to do more than 278lbs but had to play it safe as my fear was going too heavy and having it be something I struggle on or worse, missing reps on something that was to have reps in the tank. Been noticing that I’m not exactly comfortable with going right into the next rep all the time, like a back and forward balance issue and I seem to have to let things settle a good bit rather than using the nervous energy to go. Could also be from how I tend to push my hips forward to get under the weight. But I don’t want to get bogged down in technique issues as I feel that derailed some things last time a max axle was prepped from my own doing. Worked up with bigger jumps for the doubles and then went to 30lbs jumps for singles. Aim being essentially the opening weight for the triple. I need to get better at the lower body drive and comfortability with getting under the weight. The lockout work and increased triceps stuff is helping with being able to get under weights. Not sure what I did but the knuckles of the right hand for the middle and ring finger got tight and ached after this top set. Not going to stop me on anything but annoying. Even getting the top set, still nervous about the down sets as this weight or abouts had felt tough for several sets of 4 last time. Even though I made about this weight with one clean move quite well last week. It is perhaps that I don’t have the same tenacity for the lower weight after the big weight or maybe I put a little more into that top set and then have my normal levels on these other sets. Just being reflective. So from there was more lockout work. This had been quite interesting last time so there were some changes made. One was to increase the ROM by 2”. See if that reduced the weight enough to be more in line with carryover. I had thought this would be the step taken. The increased ROM is actually good I think for the lockout work being done. So in order for things to not be so much band assistance with that increase in distance, I took off some of the band as I knew with them doubled that even that small an increase would be more than nothing. Ended up being 55lbs after removing the micro bands with the added ROM. I felt that I had a better idea of what I could do with the back support and band assistance compared to last time. So less sets and bigger jumps in weight. Plan was to do 2x4 with 2RIR and longer rests. I was thinking that 406-446lbs would be where I was. 406lbs felt too easy to stop there but 446lbs I gave an attempt and the effort to get it off the pins was obviously going to be too much (be a single and not a set of 4) so I went with 426lbs. That first rep of each set is a doozy and then the other reps are a good bit better feeling. Second set was a lot tougher than the first. I had to work for that one. The next part of the workout was up to me in a way. I was advised to do 3x10-12 of a face pull variation that I felt helped with axle clean and press. So usually that had been a band face pull with the anchor point low. Suggestion to do pauses. I felt that would be something but that it doesn’t quite get it. Yes, the motion is the same but not how I’m gripping things. So I thought of adding Fat Gripz to the band and gripping them without my thumbs like I do when I have the axle. Took a bit of troubleshooting to get the feel right and I may need to do more tweaking to get it right. It was something different from the Cuban rotations. Easier feeling then them as far as the joints but tougher than a regular face pull. Eccentric single arm triceps with bands to round out the evening. Three sets again with plan being 10-15 reps still. I had tried to do 3x12 last time but I fell short of that. This time, I figured I’d just aim for the most reps I could and not try and do 3x12 with holding back early on to hope I had endurance for later. Not save anything for the swim back to shore. This seemed to work as got an extra 3 reps on the first set and matched the sets from last week on the other sets. Put stuff away and cooked up dinner before stretching. Made sure to ice the knees before bed.

September 6, 2022 – Week 5, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Skaters
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Axle Cleans
78x2
103x2
130x2
130x2
130x2
130x2

Paused Bent Over Straight Arm Band Lat Pulls (2 seconds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10

14” Axle Jack Stand Pulls w/bands (straps)
No Bands
130x3
Added Bands (+45lbs bottom/+92lbs top)
150x3
240x3
330x3
420x3
420x3
420x3
420x3
420x3

Paused One Arm Dumbbell Rows (2 seconds)
40x6/6
70x4/4
95x2/2
116x6/6
116x6/6
95x13/13

Posterior Single Leg Step Downs (18”)
40x10/10
40x10/10
40x10/10

Nordic Curl Eccentrics (7 seconds)
bwx5
bwx5
bwx5

Stretching
  
Comments: Other than work annoying me near the end of the day, I guess mostly good. Less noticeable sensations of the plantar fasciitis stuff and knees seemed to be ok as well. I know that my right calf is tight compared to the left. Knees are getting worked a good bit these past few training cycles. Warming up with the pairing of lying side plank band clamshells and split stance TKEs with bands. Starting things off with the skaters. Trying to get into a “bounding” mood so that I’m feeling how I want to be thinking. Quick reactions, purposeful. No discomfort here. First week of these still felt the best considering joints and what not. From there on to the axle cleans. Same weight and reps as last week. Keeping rests short. My choice of shirt I thought was good but apparently a bit slick below the decal so I ended up chalking my belly a bit. Trying to make these strong and powerful. Fast, like picking up nothing. Straight arm pulldown things after that. Despite the lower lat/rib cage area feeling a little tight yesterday and today, lat control in the lower lats was good. No discomfort of any kind, just tightness. Again, aches in the knees and noticing that stuff below the knees is tight getting into that deadlift like position. Axle band pulls were again up to bat. Same as last time as far as band tension, reps and sets. Advised to 20lbs more time around. Setup took time but not as much compared to the previous session since I knew what all I needed and where things needed to go. So everything was 20lbs heavier than last time working up. Plate jumps. First set with bands really felt them kicking in hard at lockout. First rep of each set felt the hardest but looks smooth on video. Subsequent reps felt quite easy after that. Controlled eccentrics. Definitely noticing my quads when it is time to lockout out the weight. Challenging but powerful as far as things go. After that, it was paused one arm dumbbell rows again. Still strict with 2 second holds each rep. Plan for this session was to do top weight from last week for 2x6 and then take off 20lbs for a downset of max reps (2-3RIR). I decided however to use my solid dumbbells working up and plateloaded handle just for the top set. It would probably take too much time to bring the weight down to the right amount in the loaded handles (since the 25’s are a little heavy) to keep the rests as they were indicated so 1lbs less on the down set with a solid dumbbell wasn’t going against the spirit of things. Weight felt substantial in my hands and joints that first working set, despite warming up. Second set the weight sensation was better. I was really surprised how light the weight felt on the down set after that. Then it was time for the posterior stepdowns. Advised that this would be the last week of them as a set protocol as written. Change here was to either elevate it a little bit higher to add difficulty or to decrease the tempo of the eccentric. I did manage to add 2” to the setup with what I had and keep it stable. I didn’t go with the eccentric route as sometimes the knees achy a lot and it is hard to control it well to a set tempo. I figured the difficulty increased would increase the TUT anyways for me. I did the mobility stuff again to hopefully get my knees ready for it. The added 2” in height definitely increased the difficulty a good bit. Last thing was the Nordic curls. Advised last week of them, similar to the stepdowns. 3x5 with bodyweight still. I had planned to do 6 second eccentrics again but seeing as last week, I figured I’d try and push these just a tad more with 7 second eccentrics. I’d say that is my limit. Calves were getting tight near the back of the knee. This was quite challenging. I know that I can’t do these for a long time despite the results as eventually it becomes too hard to recover from (like when my left leg got strained for a while doing similar exercise for too long and too hard). So it is probably best this exercise is being switched for next time. Put stuff away and ate a roast before icing knees before bed.