Warm Up Circuit
Paused Bent Over Straight Arm Band Lat Pulls (2 seconds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10
µb’sx10
µb’sx10
14” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps, briefs)
110x2
200x2
290x2
380x2
470x1
560x1
650x2
110x2
200x2
290x2
380x2
470x1
560x1
650x2
Paused 12” Axle Jack Stand Pulls (straps, 3 seconds 2” off the ground)
470x2
470x2
470x2
470x2
Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 seconds)
bwx4
bw+25x8
bwx15
bwx4
bw+25x8
bwx15
Split Squat w/ TKE (sb)
bwx12/12
bwx12/12
bwx12/12
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.
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.
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