November 23, 2022 – Week 5, Day 2

Romanian Deadlifts (beltless, straps, 3-1-1-0 tempo)
95x3
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
315x3
355x8
355x8
355x8

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows (2 seconds, straps)
45x3
95x3
147x3
189x8
189x8
189x8

Dumbbell Lateral Lunges
15’sx3/3
40’sx3/3
70’sx10/10
70’sx10/10
70’sx10/10

Single Leg Seated Band Hamstring Curls
sbx30/30
sbx30/30

Sled Drags (alternating backwards/straight leg forwards)
165x10 minutes

Stretching
 
Comments: Temperatures still fluctuating drastically. Pick a lane already. Work was stressful with holiday so it was nice when the work day was finally over. Starting things off with tempo rdls again. I’m still doing these without a belt as I feel that makes the most sense still at this time. So plan here was to actually do 3x8 with 325-335lbs at RPE 7. Considering how last week felt, I felt that this was too low a weight to be that effort really. So unless I felt like crap, I was going heavier. Left side lower back was still feeling stiff from Saturday. I started out with 95lbs instead of the empty bar and that maybe had things feeling heavy at the start but proceeded as normal. Took about two sets in for stuff to feel good and warm in both the lower back and upper back. Shorter rests warming up with the 40-50lbs jumps. However long really it took to change the weights and then going. I’d then rest enough to feel recovered for the working weight. Put on 20lbs over the goal weight and got to work. I was right in that I was still improving. First set felt a little heavy but was still in the right range. Second set actually felt easier. Third set was good but not as easy as the second set. But again, still in the right range. Kind of crazy 20lbs jumps on this every week and still hitting the numbers. It’s definitely the most I’ve done beltless for tempo work (I’ve done more with just pauses). This seems to be boding well for pulls this coming competitive season coupled with how single leg work is progressing too. Row change up was next. My choice as far as bar to be used but doing paused chest supported stuff with 2 second holds. 3x8 at RPE 7. I knew that I’d need to not go so heavy here because I was really out of practice on this variation. Caveat with the bar choice was something that was different feeling from the other back work I was doing. Barbell made the most sense since most of the back stuff has been unilateral with bands or dumbbells. I also have an idea of what I can hit on this variation so a lot of figuring things out and guess work wasn’t needed. I had intended to start out heavier due to the heavy back work involved with the rdls but decided to do the empty bar to get a feel for the movement again. Took about 50lbs jumps. Before doing the working weight, I did the one traction exercise I do when my lower back is feeling compressed and that seemed to get things click in a way that while still stiff and sore, wasn’t feeling off. As has been the case with most of these rowing things, the left arm takes a few reps to chill out on the tendonitis. Even though I’ve done over 200lbs for these kinds of reps in the past, I went lower as I knew that it would be tougher the first time back. I was right. First set was the toughest of the sets despite being the freshest. First few reps felt easy and then started to fatigue hard. Second set there was fatigue but I seemed to feel the bar path in a better way this time around. And then last set felt the best of the sets. Which oddly enough is sometimes the case on these chest supported barbell rows. Not always but often enough. Lateral lunges were next on the agenda. No pauses this time. Options were to do them seamlessly in a flow motion or to elevate a side that I was lunging towards by 2” and do one side and then the other with rest. The elevated option didn’t seem like the best option with what I had at my disposal. The risk of landing weird or having stuff slide was too high. I ended up sweeping the garage floor of debris because of that potential risk as well. This was going to be interesting in that I’ve not done these without a pause this cycle and I was already using twice the weight I had been using when I was first doing these earlier this year in prep for Battle at the Bridge/Regionals. Sometimes pauses being removed do very little on some exercises whereas others it’s a big change. Tempo up and down also is generally a big change. I did some mobility stuff and then tested to see how just moving my body quickly worked. I then did a set with light weight to again see. The plan was RPE 7 with 3x10 so 20 reps really in a set. My thinking was that maybe if this wasn’t as easy due to the higher reps and the explosiveness in rep turnover would be exhausting. But I quickly found that the weight I was using last week was insufficient. Now I should’ve made plate loaded dumbbells as I kind of knew that jumping up 60lbs total was going to be a hard thing. The first set worked out well enough but I was really feeling it by the end and I was definitely breathing hard trying to get my air back. I did manage to get through all the sets and reps of this but it was really tough. I was thinking of just stopping during the last set about half way into it. I was also thinking of dropping down to the 40lbs dumbbells from the 70lbs for the other two sets after that first set. Lesson learned for next time. Band hamstrings next. Similar to last week but 2 sets of 20-30 reps this time. Sticking to the single leg work on these seated and the same band tension. Ended up with 2x30 on these. I was feeling beat in the lower body after this was done. Lower back, hamstrings, glutes, inner thighs and calves were all feeling it and I had one last thing to do. Sled work of 5-10 minutes of it at RPE 6 and the suggestion to do backwards, forwards (with the straight legs) or alternating. I elected to do the same thing I did last time which was alternating them and doing 10 minutes with 10lbs more than last time. Right leg popliteus or plantaris has been acting up on me for the past two weeks or so but seems to calm down after rest. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching. Iced knees and left elbow before bed.