Band Y Raises to Overhead Presses (3 second holds) µb’sx10 µb’sx10 µb’sx10
Dumbbell Preacher Curls on Incline Bench 15x10/10 30x15/15 30x15/15
Stretching
Comments: Temperatures are going back up to what is the usual again after the artic front passed through last weekend. So walking outside hasn’t been a problem. This was again and half day situation with work and Monday being off for holiday observance. System issues made things not be really easy. Plan was to get in workout right after work so get it out of the way and then clean up for somewhat earlier dinner and spend the evening with family. Also plan on going out to Lancaster to do tomorrow’s workout so maybe try to go to sleep at reasonable hour. Weather fine so able to do the setup for outside rather than in the garage for everything like last week. Swiss bar incline bench again. Plan was similar to trap bar pulls in that doing 4x5 and reporting RIR also while working up in sets of 2-3. Weight was to be the weight I did for the downsets last week. Working up in 20lbs seemed to work out well for me last week. Right wrist is still achy but not as much I guess. It takes time when I tweak it. Shoulders were achy too. Left side more notably. Similar to trap bar, I was thinking that it was a good thing I did the top set last week. It wasn’t feeling great at the start here and I was again hoping that as I went they’d feel better like trap bar pulls. They did follow that trend. I’m not sure what finally clicked for me on the third set but it finally did and shoulders weren’t as achy and stuff was moving better. Then last set was the best and felt even better. Who knows, maybe I subconsciously hold back to ensure I get through all the sets and then go for broke last set as far as the effort? I guess it works out for me with getting in volume and pushing the intensity. So started out feeling crap and finished up feeling powerful. Always good to end on that note. Into the garage for the dead stop one arm rows. Plan being 2x10 at RPE 7.5-8. Indication was to work up in triples. I felt while last week was feeling good, I didn’t feel that strong the first set and got better as I went. I feel that higher reps with 50lbs jumps (5 rep sets), didn’t really get me ready. So did 30lbs jumps this time and I think that worked out well. Maybe too well. I was expecting an 8lbs increase to be noticeable but it wasn’t feeling any tougher than last week had felt. So I went for 186lbs. I was thinking even before to only go for 181lbs or something if the first set was easy but wasn’t expecting it to be this easy. This is the most weight (anything over 180lbs is) that I’ve attempted to do one arm rowing with. I’m almost out of room to safely fit stuff on the handle now. I’m also surprised how well my grip and back feel even though I did back stuff the past two workouts and grip work hard two days prior. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells and the band. Plan this time was same weight as last week and aim to do 3x15-20 with 2-3RIR was indicated. I think I’m getting used to these. I figured that I could probably get 20 reps on the first set and then experience a drop off in the reps. As long as I got more reps total compared to last time, it was a win here. The length on the dumbbells does make the muscling them up a bit trickier than when it was the solid 40’s I was using. I wonder if I could just bully up the 70’s if need be now. These get very exhausting on my anterior deltoids. Back outside for the next thing. Y raises into press again. Notes said last week of them. I’ll kind of miss them as they seem to get the shoulders and such in an interesting way and I feel fatigue even with this very light band tension. Not much left to say there and back into the garage for the biceps to finish up. Same as last week with preacher curls on the incline bench. I was advised to go no heavier than 30lbs on these. My plan was to aim for 30x2x15 after doing 25 and 30 last week. I would’ve only thought to go heavier if 30lbs was super easy that first set and it was not. Small weight changes are really noticeable on these, especially with higher reps. Left side is a little slower but that could be from having to deal with the bursitis (plan is try and get that drained next week). These were tougher than last week for sure. Put stuff away and had a protein shake before stretching out and cleaning up. Haven’t been to the gym since September so will be a change up going forward.
Comments: Drama happening in the strongman world again. As per usual, not related to the open weight class that I compete in. It is like watching a tire fire. I just keep moving forward slowly like an immortal snail. I’ve pretty much decided at this point that Arnold is no go. Besides the two tougher events being about 20lbs heavier than I was expecting to be, it looks unlikely that if I am given the go ahead that it will be enough time. I’ve not seen people ahead of me on the list (11 spots) that got 14th through 18th training for Arnold so not wise to keep at it when I know how much pushing things last year to get everything done affected things. As I’ve probably suggested, it was probably a better option to aim for Arnold qualification directly rather than through Nats to have time. Or to be able to get to one vs the other with less steps and be able to take time for shorter offseason trainings rather than a long one at the end of the competition cycle. It’s just a little aggravating to miss out on a year with the best events for me probably ever that I even had a shot at qualifying. But that can let me focus on the present and what is guaranteed. Only one other person signed up for PA Dutch but I know two other people that intend to but haven’t yet and maybe another. Even with the events as they are, it isn’t a guaranteed win for the show or any event and I will need to work my ass off as per usual. Start of the day’s training was some warming up exercises. Just indicated to do some stuff to work bracing, lats and/or glutes. I figured that doing side plank lying clamshells with bands and those lat pulls I did for a few sessions for deadlift would fit the bill. Then right into trap bar work. I think the last week was more to see how those felt and always plan to swap out or remove. Indication that trap bar with how it is could allow for more volume. Last week was the getting a baseline and I’m kind of surprised how high it was to start things off. Question would be if I could tolerate the volume that is planned. I feel that I’m in a good spot now but that I need to add at minimum 50lbs to what I did last week and have it feel the same or easier by the end. Though ideally getting close to 700lbs for double digits would be clutch. Anyways, the workout was to warm up in sets of 2-3 reps to working weight, which was 565-585lbs for 4x5. Report back RIR on the last set. I was slightly uncertain with this due only to how I seemed to be really drained going for that down set after the top set last week. I did the warming up in plate jumps up until the last jump which I then did 70lbs so that I was doing 575lbs for the working sets. That first set, I was kind of glad this wasn’t the testing week otherwise, I’d have been lower as this first set felt harder than that set had felt. My hope was that these would get better as I went, which they did. Felt much better on the second set but I did get slightly off balance on the last rep which made it tougher than it should’ve been. Next set I felt like I could feel all those rdls paying off and being able to load my hips. Likely the show isn’t going to allow touch and go (I’m not really trying to bounce reps) but I feel that this will feel similar to how the weight will feel with the car rocking on the frame from the suspension (from what I’ve observed in the past). Last set it felt great. A bit more aggressive on the first rep. Felt like it should compared to last week. Then on to the front foot elevated Bulgarian split squat hatfields. No tempo this time around and plan was to warm up in triples to 165lbs for 3x8. I was kind of thinking this was going to be too light but felt that if a specific weight is mentioned that this is for a purpose. Just slightly working my air on these but these were fairly easy. I wasn’t too sure what to say as far as RIR on these at the end. Chest supported barbell rows after that. 3x10 with 1-2ct holds and RPE 7-8. I was initially going to do 185lbs but reconsidered it after doing my warming up set. Paused rows like these are tricky as I seem to have a big drop off in weight I can handle as reps increase. So taking 10lbs off my planned weight turned out to be the right move with how things turned out here. Probably going to be a little lower with the heavy trap bar work now looking to be the case going forward this prep. Last week had been my first introduction to the standing leg curls with bands. The tension I had wasn’t that much really but the contraction in the hamstrings was hard and intense. Seeing as plan was the same this week, I went up to the next band tension (average) and was expecting to be brought back down to 3x10 but nope. I was able to do 3x15 here on these with the 3 second holds. I’m hoping that this good fortune continues. So then the last thing of the session was grip work with the frame but a bit different from the usual. No thick grips this time. Maybe because they were bothering my right wrist or just better options for what actually needs work. So grip but involving shrugs and then tempo (up explosive and hold for 1-2ct). The grip was to hold it in my fingertips. So no thumb on bar and hand mostly open. I’ve done this before once I think where I was to do a timed hold after hitting a top double on farmer’s/frame and then 100lbs off and do it with weight in just the finger tips. I got very short time both times as I had gone really heavy and I was absolutely wrecked. Seeing as how the plan was RPE 7 for 2x20-25, I thought that high 200’s would fit the bill. I probably should’ve done less as this was tough and I got fatigue hard in the upper back and forearms doing these. I barely got 20 reps on that first set so I took off 50lbs to try and make it easier for the second set and it was almost as tough as that first set. I will need to adjust things accordingly next time as those were intense. Terrible but in a good way. Put stuff away and stretched before eating a late dinner of pot roast. Iced my knees before bed.
Paused Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (2 seconds in dip) 60x2/2 70x2/2 80x2/2 90x2/2 100x2/2 110x2 L 120x2 L 130x2 L 140x2 L 150x3 L 135x3 L 135x3 L 110x2 R 120x2 R 130x3 R 117x3 R 117x3 R
Paused Side Plank Lifts (3 seconds) 40x15/15 40x15/15
Stretching
Comments: Off work so able to do another session with sun light out so figured I’d take it. Especially considering the planned stuff for the session. I was worried I had slept in way too long from how I was feeling but it was just past 9:30AM so I was only like 1hr behind my usual work day schedule. Still really cold but just below freezing so comparatively not so bad considering the past few days being single digits or just about. Family visits have pretty much meant I’ve not had to cook my own food for a week now haha. I was able to finally track down weights for the Arnold and definitely would be tough show to do as the viking and farmer’s event are heavier than I was expecting and all four prelim events are on one day vs over two days. The events for the prelim are heavier than I was thinking (or top range really) while the finals the weights seem what I was expecting. I kind of feel that I needed to be doing off season two months prior to now to really be ready for those weights. Might have to think on things as far as Arnold vs SC Nats in the future as far as doing one vs the other perhaps. Only really have to consider it for another week as an option until I close that door and consolidate my stressors and training focus. Circus dumbbell to start things off. This was kind of the start of the contest prep with the previous weeks more familiarization. Plan was work up in small jumps (like swiss bar last week) in doubles to a top triple for the day leaving 2-3RIR. It was my choice on doing pauses in the dip if I felt like I needed to do that for a few reasons (still working on keeping dumbbell in position, use less weight so more next time). Started out at 60lbs and did doubles with pauses and 10lbs jumps. Both sides were feeling about even but I knew that the right side would struggle once I hit a certain weight. 100lbs was the last weight I did alternating sides (taking short rests) and focused on just the left side. I’d come back to finish the right side. My hope with adding support gear and such as needed was that I could do enough weight that my down set would require the circus bell to get more familiarization with it. 110lbs didn’t feel amazing (first set using two 25’s on each side) with the sides rolling independently. Not something I was getting with just one 25’s pair. 130lbs I forgot it was just the double and started to go for a triple and stopped myself. I knew I had more in the tank here. I was glad I was moving the empty bell well enough after not doing anything with circus dumbbell since October 2021 and nothing since heavier than 100lbs from last week. 140lbs went up well enough that I knew 150lbs would be where to call it to leave something there. Biceps were getting sore on these with the cleaning. Not used to it and it isn’t something that can be worked with pauses and tempo and be effective like with the pressing portion of this lift. 150lbs was decent enough. Down sets with 90% so 135lbs here. First set easy and then about 90 seconds rest did the second so slightly tougher. I wanted to have one set fresh and one with fatigue. Dropped back to 110lbs for the right side and worked up. I could tell that 130lbs was going to be where I was stopping most likely for this side. Conceivably, I could’ve done 5lbs more but felt it wasn’t worth it here since this is not the planned side for the show and as long as I can hit at least the “light” weight option with this side to get another point if I tire on the left, I’m good. Down sets were 117lbs for this side then. No disasters on this today. Just sore biceps. This ate up quite a bit of time, which had been why I decided to start training earlier in the day. Into the garage for more shoulder work with the seated presses with dumbbells. The suggested for today was to work up to 95lbs for 6-10 reps leaving 2RIR and then drop down to 85lbs for matching rep set. But really it was up to me what to pick as far as weight but this was about what I was planning to use as far as weights for these since I’m to do a top set of 8-10 reps next week to finish the cycle of this exercise. Most of my time was figuring out the plate math for the dumbbells haha. The warming up jumps last time worked so I did them again but both sets for 5 reps and really controlled eccentrics to get things feeling good. Didn’t want my biceps to cramp up on me here on the shouldering. I was actually quite explosive with shouldering the right dumbbell that it almost got me off balance to try and get the left one up. Felt strong. Got slightly out of groove on last rep. Rest was pretty much just getting the weight changed which took a bit of time considering where I placed the weights needed to be taken off. That set was quite easy. Technically a PR here (most I’ve done 100’sx5 and 90’sx8 post 2016 but I’ve done 100’sx7 standing it would seem in like 2014). It will be interesting to see what I get next week. Back outside again for band assisted pull-ups. Same as last week with the plan being 3x8-12 with 2-3RIR worked. Same band assistance and indication to control movement. I knew I could do 12 the first two sets but it would be debatable for the third set. Especially with how sore my biceps were feeling from circus dumbbell stuff. I kind of knew after the second set I wasn’t going to get 12 within parameters if I went for it. But got 10 so that works. Back into the garage to finish up the day. Lying dumbbell extensions again and indication was to use 40’s for 3x15. Notes were to either add tempo to the eccentric or shorten the rests to make the difficulty RPE 7-8. I wasn’t sure about tempo as sometimes the elbows and shoulders aren’t too thrilled with that on extension based exercises with free weight. I did more reps without tempo for the warming up to get things sorted and see if elbows ok today. They were so I went with 3 second eccentrics. Worked fine first two sets. Last set, my right triceps was not able to keep to the tempo quite right for the last 2-3 reps. But elbows and shoulders seemed ok with things today. Last thing for obliques with paused plank lifts. Shorter hold times compared to last time so I felt I could use more weight. At issue was the elbow as the bursitis is more than it was last time. The couch pillow did alleviate pressure enough to do these but it wasn’t like a 100% removal like it was last time when it wasn’t as inflamed. There is still a noticeable difference between left side doing these and right side. Put stuff away and got cleaned up to go to dinner with family and ended up stretching when I got back home. Iced left elbow and right knee before bed.
One Leg Deadlifts 65x3/3 105x3/3 145x3/3 175x3/3 200x3/3 225x8/8
Sandbag Load Over Bar (58.5”) 175x1 175x1 225x1 225x1 EMOM 265x1 265x1 265x1 265x1 265x1 265x1 265x1 265x1
Sandbag Bear Hug Carries 225x50’ 225x50’ (turns at 50’) 225x251’
Stretching
Comments: With Christmas and having family visiting, it adds a certain element to the usual routine where stuff can get askew. Meal timing and such being different. Trying to make the appropriate appearances but still do the things I feel I need/want to do and hoping that everyone else is understanding of this being how I am. And that I’m not being misunderstood. Had to have the house warmer than usual to make sure pipes didn’t freeze during the night since it was nearly 0 degrees. Training in the garage and it was going to be the first time I think where it has been this cold since I’ve started doing the home gym stuff. Luckily, only one thing for the session was going to require being outside in the wind. Until I was warmed up, warm up and gloves were required. First thing was hip airplanes and same as it has been since the second week they popped up. These felt fine enough. Again, I feel like two sets feels like enough with how these are being done. Felt the left hip shift a little that first set. Right side always seems a little tighter. I wasn’t quite toasty yet at this point so kept everything on for the next thing, which was squats with the ssb. No belt again and indication was that this was a pulling back week for these. Plan to be top set next week without belt and then add belt and change variation. Hopefully that is the switch to strongman gym as I’m kind of treating the beltless stuff with my ssb different from the ssb at that gym due to difficulty. So it would be nice to have the change happen like that too. I do have records for both so even if the switch happens sooner (as in stuff required needs that facility vs home) I am ready. In either case, this back off week was lighter weight but still keeping some intensity with it being paused squats. 2 second pauses in the bottom of the lift. Suggested was 225lbs – 245lbs for 3x5. Same rests as I was doing for the past few sessions and report RIR on that last set. I knew this would be doable with the higher end once I got used to things and was warm. Pauses are hard on the knees compared to normal tempo. I generally don’t do as many reps warming up with pauses if they are longer as that additional time seems to be enough to warm me up. But I could tell I was moving a little slower out of the hole on squats those first two sets. Knee aches and such. Left knee has stability issues in the lower leg as indicated since middle of 2021 and the right knee just has funky stuff since end of 2020. These haven’t gotten worse, just have to maintain and dance the fine line of the razor’s edge. I was finally warmed up I guess for the last set as that was when things were firing for me and it was easy. The rest of the workout was not pulled back in the same sense. One leg deadlifts were again to be tested. It would appear this was perhaps the last workout of them. Indication being the volume would go elsewhere (either events or secondary deadlift). These do seem to have been beneficial. It was helpful to know the plan was to work on helping with moving events. The plan for today was a top set of 6-10 with 2RIR (so RPE 8-8.5). Notes said to “check off a box” here. I was feeling warm but figured I’d keep everything but the gloves on considering I’d need less layers for the rest of the workout to be productive. I was initially thinking I’d do 40lbs jumps and YOLO 225lbs but I reconsidered that thinking back to how last week had felt with 205lbs. So thought I’d aim for 205lbs for 10 reps instead and did the same jumps working up as I did for that last week. However, 175lbs felt quite easy so I thought maybe 225lbs wasn’t something that would be terrible. 200lbs felt smoother than 205lbs had so I went for 225lbs. I was really surprised how well it moved for me. I was expecting a struggle to get 6 reps but got 8 reps fairly comfortably. I did lose my balance on the 7th rep for the left side and had to catch myself midway through the lift but made sure the last rep was solid. I didn’t have any issues with my right side which was a bit surprising as I was expecting a struggle with how it was last week (and generally how it seems to be when I do the first rep that side). I was pleased to be repping 225lbs so easily on this variation. I’d say the box was checked. The rest of the workout was sandbag. It didn’t have to be but I felt it made the most sense to keep things consistent and not deviate so much with it seeming more likely that PA Dutch is what I’m doing vs Arnold. So this next exercise was to do loading of choice a bit heavier than last week to same height and for 8x1 EMOM style. My options being sandbag or keg at home. Obviously more options if at strongman gym but no real reason to go yet (anything under 330lbs is a warm up on atlas stones with tacky). I could do keg but there is more setup required compared to sandbag (something to cushion the drop area, have to retrieve it and bruising on arms) but this also meant I needed to make a new sandbag as 363lbs was not going to be a slight increase (and I’ve not even attempted to lift it before). Luckily I had ordered a 265lbs canvas to replace on at the strongman gym but I haven’t been back since three weeks before Nationals to drop it off. It was fortuitous to have it now. I already posted about how much I complained about filling said bag. I took off the top for the warm-ups but left the bottoms on. I did two singles with the lighter bags to get used to things before going to the new bag. I stuck to no support stuff on and not setting my grip as well as picking where the bag landed. Make it tougher and more stone training like as I don’t wear anything for stones with tacky. This felt better than last time. Not quite perfect but it was going well. I was content with how well things were moving here. The last thing was sandbag carries. Wasn’t really looking forward to this. Not because of how these felt last time but because it was damn cold and windy. 15 degrees with 22mph winds. And it was an event where I’d need less layers on to hold it. Same weight as last time with it being 225lbs with two sets of 50’ to get used to moving and then do a max distance set with aim being 150-300’. But not to max effort, stop when I felt that my stride was slowing down from what my controlled pace was. I had to adjust where I would usually position things for street work as there were leaves that had frozen to the road. I got out the winter jacket and put that one between sets. Bear hug style on these. I could tell on that first set that I wasn’t going to have the same issue as I did last time with feeling like my power was gone. I did the first two short runs with kind of a short rest but took a longer rest before the last set run. Not so much for catching my air but more so that my body was feeling warm again and using that as when I was recovered enough (winter jacket inside house). Feeling some fatigue in lower back but walking was smooth here. I could tell at the 150’ mark that I could do 300’ if needed. The thing is that with the street slant, the uphill portion really saps energy. So near the end of the 250’ leg I could feel my lower back and glutes starting to hit the point where it was more shuffling vs walking so I decided I’d call it there at 250’ after turning around. I know that I can go further on flat surface and that I probably don’t need to go this far with contest weight to win this event at PA Dutch. Put stuff away quickly (keeping the janky yoke in the garage rather than taking it back around for now) and drank a protein shake before being summoned over for more family time. Ended up stretching when I got back home a few hours later and iced my right knee.
Band Y Raises to Overhead Presses (3 second holds) µb’sx10 µb’sx10 µb’sx10
Dumbbell Preacher Curls on Incline Bench 12x5/5 25x15/15 30x15/15
Stretching
Comments: No walking was done on Wednesday. First snow and then it became a torrential downpour. Just not safe walking in that and even if it was marginally safer after work, it family obligations and not worth it to slip in the dark. Today was the start of the artic air as it was going to be cold but get colder as the day went on and wind would pick up. It was below freezing when I woke up and wind was picking up (up to 30mph). Half day at work due to Holiday observance. This was probably good as it meant I didn’t really miss out on family time, and maybe get to recover a little more before tomorrow’s training session. And get workout done before it got into single digits (which it would’ve been if I did normal workout time). I had a friend visit to drop off Christmas gift (I just mail mine direct) so I was little later starting training than planned. Swiss bar incline bench again. I was initially going to do these outside on the usual rack but thought better of it. Just do everything in the garage today. Was a little worried I had screwed up everything with missing a rep by going too heavy. Plan was to work up to a top set of 4-6 (2RIR) and then drop to a little over 90% of that for two matching rep sets and report RIR. Also indication was to go in less than 10% jumps here in doubles to the top set. So 20lbs pretty much. I’ve used the janky rack for log incline pressing and that had worked fine so I felt it would work for the swiss bar. I was initially going to aim for 5lbs more than my top successful set of 6 reps but with the bar being 38.5lbs empty, I felt I could make it 40lbs and try for 220lbs as the top set. Left wrist still feeling a little sprained/strained from last week but able to tolerate it. Pressing was feeling decent. I was successful in talking myself out of trying to do 225lbs again. 220lbs for 6 was close with leaving 2RIR. That unrack and feeling like my feet weren’t grounded had me thinking I had made a big mistake. Glad I’m back on track here. Down sets the weight felt heavy that first set to unrack but seemed well enough. Second set felt better on the unrack. I feel like 3-4RIR were there. Cleaned up that stuff and moved on to doing the dead stop one arm rows. Plan being 3x10 at RPE 7-7.5 so a little more than last week. Suggestion was less volume working up. I felt that I could do less sets this time after seeing how these felt. So pretty much 50lbs jumps. Plan was to do just 2lbs heavier than the top set last week and just try to keep that going for all the sets since last week I kind of had to build up my confidence on these after disappointment on the swiss bar. These felt tougher (probably from the heavy trap bar work) but I felt they got better as I went. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells and the band. 3x15 with 3RIR was indicated. I had felt that 58lbs (the 6lbs handles with overweight 25’s) would be perfect considering how they felt last week with the 40lbs dumbbells. Question would be how this increased weight would affect the shouldering. The size of the dumbbells certainly played into that. But I think it’s like I thought that I have to be a bit more aggressive with them and not overthink it to get things up and going smoothly. Fatigue really does build over the sets on these. I do feel like less shoulder fatigue this time around. It was at this point I started to get a late lunch cooking. Y raises into press again. I was a little hesitant that first rep as I think I was worried about hitting the ceiling initially but realized I wasn’t going to and was good after that. These do feel fatiguing but it wasn’t as bad as last week. I had figured they were harder last week (or more intense) from increased workload on everything as well as getting the movement right from the start rather than figuring it out halfway in like the first week. Change up for the last thing for biceps. Still curls but different. Preacher curls with dumbbell using the incline bench to rest my arms upon. Assuming this was single arm as can’t quite fit both arms on there really at the same time. The idea here was more biceps and elbow health. 2x10-15 with 3-4RIR at RPE 6-7. Control and get a stretch at the bottom. I went with a goofy setup on my long handle. Reason being that I wanted the weight spaced out so that it wasn’t hitting the pad and cutting the ROM short. Did a set with just the empty handle to feel things out. 25lbs was pretty easy, I didn’t really rest between sides with that. I was having a little trouble with the left side because of how bad the bursitis is that it was making things awkward. Not like pain, just odd pressure and such. Solution was putting my hand around it so that pressure was alleviated and that worked. 25lbs felt too easy to do the next set so I added 5lbs as best I could for the next set. That felt more appropriate as far as the level (near the top end of the suggested range). It was nice to see these didn’t feel bad. I can’t recall the last time I did preacher curls honestly. Maybe in high school? I ate my lunch and then decided my day was going too well and decided to make a 265lbs sandbag to use tomorrow (I didn’t want to use my loadable keg due to having to setup something to land on and such). I think I know what I’m getting myself into but nope, it is always way more aggravating than I recall it being. But with plenty of cursing and effort, it is done. Better to do it today than do it before I workout tomorrow or even during (shudder). Didn’t get a chance to stretch before being summoned over for family time. Cleaned up and my hair froze in the short walk down the block. Stretched when I got back home late in the evening and iced the left elbow just to try to get swelling down for tomorrow’s training. Stuff is probably going to be frozen or got ice on it.
Paused Standing Single Leg Band Hamstring Curls (3 seconds) lbx15/15 lbx15/15 lbx15/15
One Arm Hangs bwx10/10 seconds bwx10/10 seconds bw+53x45/45 seconds
Stretching
Comments: The day didn’t start off great. Heat was off in my house and with the impending holiday and really bad weather coming, it was time sensitive to get it fixed. I could tolerate the house being cold but can’t trust that the pipes won’t freeze up. Thankfully, able to get someone out to fix it and back to having things good before the end of the work day. Not that having a cold house was going to stop me from training if need be. This training session had the most changes with the intent for the next show. Arnold is still a possibility but a very distant one. They got about a week to inform me if that is the case. So no rdls with tempo this time to start things off. Deadlifts from the floor but with them having the yielding (eccentric) pauses. Plan was warm up and do 3x3 at 50-60% of 1rm. 3 seconds at mid-shin each rep. Hope being this kind of a decent warming up for the next exercise and being in the 6-7 RPE range. Advised I could add belt as needed. It has been a bit. With that light of weight, I don’t really need a belt, especially with the weight I was handling without one recently. But I wanted to get used to the feeling and the bracing so I had on layers of soft belt as I worked up. I elected to not use straps here and just chalked up my hands for the working sets. I wasn’t too sure how my deadlift start would feel but I felt strong on the positioning and control from all the beltless eccentric work. This bar is slightly harder to grip compared to my other barbell (that is now the one I use outside) so grip was probably the most taxed thing of the session. I didn’t want to just use straps right off the bat here; wanted to get that warmed up too (as there were some grip things today). So that went well. The next thing was the heavy pulls. Trap bar work. Plan was to start about where I left off with the yielding pulls and work up in triples to a top set of 6-8 leaving 3RIR. I’ve not pulled trap bar deadlift since 2016 prepping for a frame deadlift. Heaviest I’ve done for about this pick height (17”) is 770lbs for a single I think back in like 2012. A bit high for pick height but considering this is for a side handle car deadlift that I recall has a high pick (I had to stand on a 5” platform to get it to 12” when training for a show in 2017). I wasn’t sure what to expect but I had a feeling I’d be doing more than 500lbs for the top set. I was fully expecting a tough set of 555lbs or something. Lower body was feeling pretty good here, bracing seemed tough without a hard belt on (I was adding it slowly since I know it can be a bit off after a long break). I was quite pleased that 555lbs went up as easy as it did and I decided to go for over 600lbs. So 50lbs over my best projected plans with how things were feeling. I got set and went for it and hit an easy six reps but I got a little off balance going for the seventh rep and had to take a moment to collect my thoughts and hit the remaining two reps comfortably. If I can replicate this with 100lbs more, I should be good for what I expect the car deadlift to be weighing and feeling like. Still don’t have an answer on some specifics for things allowed at competition so raw lifting right now (and it would still be beneficial for Arnold raw). This wasn’t the end of the trap bar pulls however as I was to do a down set after 3 minutes rest to match what I did. I apparently wasn’t quite recovered as I went for that set and just was off balance and only got the weight off the ground a little. So I took about 30 seconds to reposition the bar and give it a go again. While that set was quicker, it felt harder as far as how much more I had left. But this is a great start considering things. Then on to the front foot elevated Bulgarian split squat hatfields. Same tempo but plan was to work up in triples to a top set of 6-8 reps with 1-2RIR. I wanted to try for 200lbs or more to get into line with deadlifts but I felt that going up 50lbs would be a bit risky (even if I’ve gone up 20lbs from the first session the past workout). I was going to do 30lbs jumps but elected to do bigger jumps with less sets and decreasing jumps as I went. Either way, I’d end with 185lbs for the top set. Knees were feeling a little more tender than I would’ve liked. That first set with my left side, I was thinking maybe I went too light here but right side felt like it was perhaps in the right range. Or at least not as egregiously out of it. Less knee aches in the right but the left leg feels tight doing the right side and there seems to feel like more muscular fatigue vs the left side. Down set of matching reps with 7.5-10% less weight. I think I had slightly less than 7.5% off the weight. It worked out for me with having probably more than 1-2RIR on those top sets. Rows up again. Chest supported barbell rows again but no tempo. Just regular pace rowing. I asked for clarification on these as plan listed 3x10 with 3-4RIR and being less weight than previous week. But holds really drop how much weight I can do on those and that would probably be too easy. So advised to have it be about that with the shorter rests and more RIR. I was initially planning on doing 245lbs for the sets but reconsidered after how much the trap pulls had taken out of me and adjusted the plan accordingly. That was the right call to go lighter. I then thought if things felt good, I could try going up in weight each set and maybe hit 245lbs for the last set. 225lbs felt really easy like it should. But seemed to hit some resistance doing another set and the reps near the end. So only 5lbs jumps. 225lbs had been easy, the others not as easy. I’ve done 20 reps with 235lbs before so need to get used to that again I guess. It has been rather low reps on the rows with the hold times. New exercise for me after this for hamstrings. Band work and unilateral but done standing style. Setup was using the rack and having band around the bottom setting. I had looked up how to set these up and liked the idea of using a thicker band but only lifting the top part of the band rather than both layers of band. Less tension but more surface area so won’t dig into my Achilles when I do them. I also needed it to be pretty light as it was to be 3x10-15 reps with 3 second eccentrics and leaving 3-4RIR. I was planning to do these outside on that rack (and to have things setup for the last item of session) but the rack I had in the garage worked just fine and I could do the other thing as well (might even be better). The tension was low for sure but man was the contraction intense in the hamstrings doing this. Lifting and lowering was easy, just the hold was hard. This allowed me to do 3x15 and no rest between sides but I took rest between sets. It will be interesting to see how these are progressed as I have options. Grip to end the evening. One arm hangs again. This time it indicated to warm up as needed with bodyweight hangs and then do a single set of RPE 9. I asked for suggestion on what I should be aiming for here and indication was to have it be more intensity than last time but close to a good time frame for Hercules hold (45-75 seconds). The longer limit will probably be the case for the Hercules hold at this show but the shorter time for the one at Regionals. Wanted to kind of feel my oats so to speak and push what I could do on the things I’m good at. I had an itch to do hangs with more than 50lbs added. I did two sets of bodyweight for 10 seconds to get my hands used to the bar and pressure. This bar inside is slicker compared to the one outside and that one is slicker than the one I used at the strongman gym. With how warming up was feeling, I wasn’t expecting much over 30 seconds. But I got it and said aim for 40 seconds and then 45 seconds. I could’ve gone longer (close to a minute). Might have been a little tougher on my right hand vs left hand. So it was nice to see that my grip continues to improve. Put stuff away and stretched before eating a late dinner. Iced my knees before bed.
Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (2 stage 3 second pauses) 38x2/2 58x2/2 80x2/2 EMOM 100x2 R 100x2 L 100x2 R 100x2 L 100x2 R 100x2 L 100x2 R 100x2 L 100x2 R 100x2 L
Comments: Some mixed feelings/emotions. But stress all around. Body don’t care if it it’s positive or negative, stress is stress. Sum total. The negative side would be that a well known member in the strongman community for the women took her life this week. A somber realization. I’m conflicted with the actions being taken behind the scenes as I feel those being most vocal are hypocritical from what I’ve seen just from past actions. Known issues, not changing. Myself, self-conscious of the bursitis in the elbow. Sometimes thinking there is “pain” when there isn’t. It’s definitely back to puffy level it was when I got back from Nationals and went to get it drained but without the pain. Worries about trying to get it taken care of during holidays. I can wait. As far as the positives, family I’ve not seen fairly recently in person visiting for the holidays. I know that it stresses me but I wish to make the effort to be around people I enjoy. And then there does appear to be people showing interest in the PA Dutch show. Two potentials and one person signed up (who is really good at stones) so there is some renewed trepidation and excitement with that as well as continued introduction of event work and contest specific information. I’ve readjusted my plans as far as when to call of Arnold if not timely enough. Considering my off season has been a little longer to recoup and that there are event similarity and the events are good for me, I’ll hold until New Year’s to completely dismiss it. Good news for me was that my neck has mostly calmed down by this point. This would be the first below freezing training session of this winter. Circus dumbbell with the pauses again but dropping to 5x2 instead of 5x3. I did deviate here. I had been expecting it to be another 10-15lbs jump but then it ended up being 5-10lbs with reduction in volume and indication that switching to alternating pause and regular circus dumbbell. So I went up 17lbs to get to a nice 100lbs for these. Even with it being cold and wearing the warm-ups, these didn’t feel bad. Even with my right wrist feeling a little achy and tender. Right side still lags behind and left side feels almost automatic. I was feeling good and wanted to keep the pace going so I just did these almost EMOM style (I say that as I didn’t actually use my timer but these were like less than 40 seconds rest) rather than the suggested rest. And no support gear here either. Into the garage for more shoulder work with the seated presses with dumbbells. Out of the cold for a bit. This time being plan of 5lbs more for 2x8 and report back RIR. This weight is technically an 8rm from after 2016 reboot. I was debating wrist wraps on these this time decided to stick to what I’ve been doing for consistency. I was initially not sure what to do with the jumps and thinking different things and then I just thought “screw it” and just do the 40’s and 70’s and then the plateloaded for the top set. I’m noticing shoulders and biceps are less achy each week. I don’t think I noticed it at all this week and probably the same last week. Kind of wish I had better solid dumbbell selection and more weight I guess for the dumbbells. Other than getting them into position, these feel quite good. Next bench mark I have is 100’s for 5 reps. So really anything more than 5 reps with anything over 90lbs is a PR (not sure if lifetime but probably). Back outside again for band assisted pull-ups. Same as last week with the plan being 2x8-12 with 2-3RIR worked. I had options such as same band assistance and add in slight holds or something or decrease the band tension assistance to keep it at the same effort. Indication is that next week will be more volume (pullovers dropped). I went with lowering the bands a pin height as that felt like it would be sufficient to increase the difficulty with how I’ve been trying to keep the reps controlled. First set was fine, it was definitely getting close to the fatigue limits on the second one. I do like how these band assisted ones how they’ve been setup as well as focusing on the control have felt good. Lying dumbbell extensions after that. Same as last week with 3x10-15 with 3-4RIR. I managed to get 3x15 this week with the 40’s sticking to the rest periods. There were some elbow aches but not really any shoulder aches. The increased reps could also be from not having to do the pullovers this week that could have been fatiguing my triceps as I’ve mentioned. Then to end things was the paused side bend with staggered stance. Same plan of 2x8-12 with 3-5ct holds (of course going for the top end reps and holds) and knowing how taxing this ended up being on my grip I stuck with 80lbs for both sets rather than trying to go up to my next dumbbell (95lbs) or makeshift a dumbbell weight. These are interesting for the purposes of balance and mobility as well as the extended grip hold work as the sets generally take about 90 seconds. Put stuff away and stretched out while waiting for dishwasher to finish up and then made dinner. Didn’t feel the need to ice knees today.
Comments: I was not eager to start the day. I was anxious about half of the exercises planned for this session. Because I knew they’d probably be difficult. And not in like “this is heavy” but needing to grit through it. And considering how rough the previous week’s effort on the weekend was as well. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. But I needed to keep going. It sounds like training at the strongman gym is probably going to be after the holidays. I do wonder why this off season seems so different from the previous one in that there is a lot less volume on things but not necessarily less intensity on what is provided. Perhaps I was just that beat up from the previous competition season. I need to see some kind of progress to remain satisfied enough. Even if it is the slowest progress. No progress or regression are unacceptable. I just have this feeling in my bones that I still have things left undone that I can do and need to do. Any ways, it was eventually time to train. Neck not quite 100% yet but again, still seeming to improve with less stuff needed to calm it down. First thing was hip airplanes and how they’ve been for a good bit now. I think they are helpful but I think 2 sets feels like sufficient to get things feeling good and warmed. Becomes like a 20 minutes mobility session before training with how long each set takes with the 10/10 second holds each rep. Another week of no balance issues. Then it was time for the first of the exercises that had me feeling queasy; beltless ssb squats. Plan was 295-315x4x8 and report back RIR on that last set. I was dreading doing even 295lbs with how much fatigue I had felt last week with just 275lbs. The feeling on the week prior with doing up to 260lbs had felt good. Legs had been fatigued last week hard and it made things quite challenging. I think another part of it is that squats don’t seem to come easy to me. The motion requires a lot more energy then say something like a deadlift or press when done for higher reps. And I seem to get a good bit out of a belt. Which has been why focusing on no belt for the time being to build up my bracing. So I did the same warming up as last week and I could tell I had less DOMS in the legs. To be expected with adapting to the split squats done Hatfield style. First work set would kind of dictate the day for me. Struggle bus or would I feel comfortable pushing things? The double beforehand didn’t quite give me confidence and my legs were already starting to feel toasty. But 295lbs went better than expected and I decided that I’d try to go up 5lbs at set. But then talked myself into doing odd jumps that would get me to doing 315lbs on the last set. Which could be a risk depending on fatigue. Second set didn’t feel so bad considering but fatigue in my legs was definitely building after that and third set was taking a bit more to get done (having to take a moment at the top of a rep rather than just going). But I had committed to doing 315lbs for that last set. Core was getting to limits at this point as far as holding the brace for the last two reps. Right side oblique was feeling a little sore (muscle soreness) after that set. Could’ve grinded out some more reps. So satisfied considering how worried I had been about this session with the squats. Knees, legs and back seemed to be fine. Getting close to my numbers on the ssb at the strongman gym beltless so that is a good sign I think. I do need to keep working on the gym strength numbers so that the event work doesn’t take as much out of me. There are people I’ve competed against that are doing 150lbs more than what I’m doing. But I’ve also beaten some of them recently. Which shows how much skill I have and that I wring out every last bit of myself into what I do with what I have. And why I’m taking a few weeks to get back to training and I can see them back to hard training the next week and hitting PRs. So the squats were the first thing that was stressing me out and I had a little bit of a break before the next one. Single leg deadlifts again. Same as last week but 2x8 and RPE 7-8 range. So suggested was 195-205lbs. I wanted to do 205lbs or more. But it depended on how things felt. Core was a bit beat from the beltless squats and had already been a bit worked over from beltless rdls earlier in the week. I generally improve on balance related exercises strength wise faster than balance wise. The difficulty last week had been more with stability and efficiency. Triples working up again. I stuck to doing the left side first. Knees a little stiff from squats and right side a little tender but not as much this time around. First set I got set and went and I was surprised how well it was feeling for me. At least for the first 6 reps. Then it got difficult for those last 2 reps. Rest periods were up to me to ensure quality. But I kind of wanted to go like I’ve been doing with pacing for like 90 seconds and doing the next set. Which side wants to cooperate seems to be inconsistent for me. Right side struggled that first set. I know that generally the first rep is a tough one for both sides (more so the right). If this wasn’t a balance focused exercise, I’d not have kept going. With how that set went, I was thinking I may need to drop the weight down for that side for the last set. Then I had the left side acting similar (but not as bad) that second set. I took a longer rest after that but was worried that I’d like get only 2 reps or something. But then I come and make it the easiest set of the day. I don’t get it. But I guess this one is a bit more dependent on the rest compared to doing the block/rack pulls with tempo. I’m using more weight but not having my grip fatigue at all. Only thing left for the workout was sandbag. But just one exercise this time. I wanted to take my time getting ready for this because I felt this would be really fatiguing and with how core focused everything was today, I didn’t really have the chance to put down many fluids for fear of it coming back up. I inadvertently got more rest when my shoelace broke and had to replace it. But it was sandbag time with a new exercise for me. Something I’ve seen that I’ve kind of felt was gimmicky, or I guess I should say seems like one more with how it has been used and seeing people using bands on the hips. Too much. Often seen done by people already strong in the motion (and it not being something done to build) and then other people copying it. But now I had to do it. So it is essentially doing a box squat with an odd object and then standing up and doing an extension with it. I’ve not done these before. Plan was to warm up as needed and do 200-250lx2x12. The high reps after all those squats. And just how awful my 225lbs sandbag had felt last week. My choices of sandbag were sparse at home unless I decided to make a new one that was about 265lbs (but plan was to bring that to the gym to replace a burst bag). And since doing like 50lbs or more jumps with what I had, I ended up doing repeat sets of triples. One I needed to see how things felt with lapping and then sitting down and then gauge how fatigue would feel as I went. Fatigue was the thing of concern as I’ve done decent weight for decent reps when just doing extensions from the lap. Balance is a bit different. And I know that if I go to triple extension on toes, that is trickier and probably not wise to do that this time. I was planning on doing longer rests on these but So Many Tears by 2Pac came on and I decided I’d do both work sets with shorter rest to get it all done during the song. Just thinking about the people I’ve competed with that are no longer with us. Didn’t achieve everything they wanted. And I still have the blessing of having that opportunity still. As far as exercise goes, I can see value in building exercise but pick is probably going to be limiter. A way to get work done and time under tension without the constant lower back fatigue or repicking for say doing a load or even with having to balance in the lap if doing them like that way. So I see value, especially at this phase. So put stuff away but not quite done for the day. My parents have a deck that is partially finished and wanted some of the furniture on there and out of the garage so that was a little bit of a cooldown for me. Got home and stretched and iced the knees with plans to ice again before bed. Not trying to do any anti-inflammatories tonight.
Band Y Raises to Overhead Presses (3 second holds) µb’sx11 (miscounted) µb’sx10 µb’sx10
Dumbbell Zottman Curls (5 second eccentrics) 30’sx10 30’sx10 30’sx10
Stretching
Comments: Thursday was odd. First time this season with potential chance of snow but I knew it wouldn’t materialize beyond ice/sleet and melt. It has felt like the temperatures have just shifted ahead too much from where they were when I was younger to be consistent with expectations now. That’s not to say that places further north didn’t get the expected snow. It just meant that it was way too slick outside to risk going for a walk so I didn’t. Needed to catch up on work anyways. Also had dentist and that was odd in that I got a glowing review of my chompers from the visiting dentist covering for the usual dentist. I was leery as last time someone other than the usual was there, they tried to schedule me for 3 “exploratory” drillings in my teeth. This guy was way too jovial. Said I had the best set of teeth he’s seen all week. Blush. Anyways, Friday comes and still got a stiff neck. It is getting better each day, surely but slowly, so can’t be too miffed about that. Only taking Aleve at this point before bed just to make sure that I don’t have my neck too sore and prevent me from sleeping to recover. Less things the day before so was able to do soft tissue work. But I do need to keep in mind that as I get older, recovery is slower. I still got contact bruises from Monday with the circus dumbbell. Swiss bar incline bench again. So these had been great leading up to last week when removing tempo and adding weight reminded me why I find pushing weight on incline pressing is frustrating. Because it is. It feels disjointed in where one set of things stops and the other picks up. I generally don’t have this issue with log but definitely so on other variations it would seem. Or this is just what is the case as I get older. I’m definitely self conscious of what I feel is a weakness in my strongman game in overhead. It was my lowest placing thing at Nationals and had been a reason I didn’t place higher during the year. Or in the past really in most cases. Thinking that with how these were feeling that this was coming back to good vibes. But last week these were harder than I would’ve liked. I really would’ve liked these to be 225lbs for the planned reps and sets last week but it wasn’t to be. 195lbs felt a ton heavier. Anyways, the plan for this week was 3x6 and aim to have that last set be 2-3RIR, a linear periodization. My plan was to do 195lbs and do jumps based off how it felt. If feeling amazing 15lbs jumps but more realistically 5lbs – 10lbs jumps. Again, these are tricky as warming up it feels great. I was really tempted to do 225lbs with how 165lbs felt but then I went to do 195lbs for a single (against what was written as supposed to do triples) and the unrack felt damn heavy so put it back and went back to what I was thinking initially. 195lbs was decent. Felt smoother I feel compared to last week first set. I was also dealing with the left side being tight and my right wrist aching from the thick grip shrug work. I was going to do 10lbs jumps but then that voice in my head kept egging me on. Do more, you need to be way stronger. So I added 15lbs instead. This was still in the realm of acceptable for this. But as I seem to always do with pressing (incline, axle, benching) I went too much. I had no business doing 225lbs but I had told myself if I believed it I could do it. I got 5 reps and just couldn’t get through the sticking point on the 6th rep and had to bail. Which wasn’t fun as I didn’t have the pins really set high enough to be there to spot. I didn’t want to end it there on a bad note so I reset everything and did a set of 6 with the weight somewhat between the top successful weight and the first set. That seemed fine. If I had stuck to 10lbs jumps, this wouldn’t have been a thing. I keep doing this with pressing. I get frustrated and feel I’m not where I need to be and I find it intolerable. I did this with incline in prep for Battle at the Bridge and that didn’t turn out well for me. Angry that I did this again with missing a rep. I need to be better. Better at managing these thoughts as well as being better. Being frustrated with how things are shaping up as far as competitions for next year and just how I’m feeling like I’m at a deficit to my competition isn’t helping matters here. And that the workouts will not be getting easier. Moving on. Into the garage. One arm rows again. Change up in variation. The style of using a bench to prop up the knee. I guess I should be differentiating these variations better. Dead stop on the floor each rep. Indication was to build and then potentially swap in arm over arm (if Arnold but seeming less likely every day). Plan being 3x10 at RPE 7. I wasn’t sure how these would feel and I was feeling a bit miffed with pressing. I did more reps than usually do working up just to see how fatigue felt and I feel that I lowballed things here as my first set was way too easy still. I had thought about doing the handle plus 3 sets of 25’s but I was worried it would be too much after doing a top set with about that weight on the other variation last week. But turns out that was probably what I should’ve done. The alleviated some of the sting of how disappointed I was in the swiss bar pressing (again, a training lift and not even an event). I will need to get a bit creative to fit more weight on here securely going forward. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells again. But not quite. Drew decided to have me do these with less weight and using bands to make up the difference with the hope these would be more challenging but easier to get into position. I was thinking that it would be harder just with the bands restricting movement but I guess the weight was light enough that it worked out. I had done the first set with a light band around my back as I thought it would be challenging enough. The band shifted as I did the first rep and laid down so it was less than expected. Still, I did 20 reps just to see how fatigue built and I still decided it wasn’t enough to meet the criteria of 3x15-20 with 3RIR. So I increased the band tension and just treated that first set as an extended warm up. Lockout gets tricky on these with the fatigue building. And it is not just the triceps but my anterior deltoids that get fried as well. I miscounted the first hard set and stopped when I realized I was going for a 21st rep. I counted right the other two sets. I will need to increase the dumbbells slightly for next time but this band tension is good. Y raises into press outside. Same as last week. This week I was feeling a lot more fatigue. Could be from having my neck tight and having to do a lot of soft tissue work to get things to feel comfortable or that the pressing from today and this week cumulatively was harder. It also didn’t help that I miscounted that first set. These also perhaps were feeling tougher in that I was doing the form that felt tougher right from the start rather than discovering it halfway through the second set. By this point, pretty much everything spanning from fingertip to fingertip and from neck to below shoulder blades front and back were fatigued. And I still had the zottman’s with the added eccentrics for 3x10. Indication was another week of these and either dropping them for something else or reduction in volume to maintain for elbow health. I decided to go up 2lbs more. Negligible difference in weight but thinking that I could push these a little more and still try and improve. I guess the name of the game for me. Nickel and dime increases. Fatigue was high and it was definitely challenging keeping to these rest periods. Last time, it was the last set that I was gassed on after solid first and somewhat solid second set. Looking to repeat that it would seem. This time, it wasn’t until the last two reps of that set that I was having trouble controlling the eccentric. But it was both sides this time vs just the right. Seems to be tied to shoulder fatigue as well. Put stuff away and ate Indian food for dinner before stretching. No icing as taking Aleve. Took a bit to get myself to want to sleep. Nervous for the workout tomorrow because of how tough this stuff felt last week.
Single Leg Seated Band Hamstring Curls sbx30/30 sbx30/30
Stretching
Comments: Been thinking how that I’m doing the stuff I’m not good at right now, which can kind of cloud how I actually am in a competitive setting. Know the stuff I’m doing is generally stuff that needs the most work. Most cases the stuff I’m good at that requires little technique I’m back at it or better than ever just doing it (like grip stuff). Have to remind myself that it sometimes takes a few sessions back to feel good with loading exercises. Need to be faster but also need to be stronger with gym stuff as that will make the hard parts of events less taxing. That is what I had planned to be thinking on but then I woke up and my neck was stiff and not feeling good. Crick in it on the usual left side being the culprit. I know from past experience that it will take a day or two for it to finally calm down enough to get things back to whatever it needs to be and that I can train without being hampered with my neck like this. But it isn’t pleasant. I did soft tissue work (manual massage, device and foam rolling) as well as Icy Hot and taking Ibuprofen and Aleve. It just didn’t make for a relaxing day of work leading up to training. Session starting off the same with tempo rdls again. Well not exactly the same. Tempo indicated allowing to adjust to 2-3ct for the eccentric and being explosive on the concentric rather than controlled. This was to be the last week of this variation and then doing some kind of floor pulling (probably side handle). Plan was top set of 8-10 with 1-2RIR and then if feeling up to it take 10-12.5% off that weight for a set of 8 reps. For this variation, been sticking to beltless so figured I’d finish it out like that. Initial plan had been to do 425lbs and aim for 10 reps but I guess with the neck feeling how it was and being a little doubtful in my abilities being as a top amateur strongman, I went heavier. Most weight I’ve done on rdls of any variation since 2016 reboot is 435lbs and I did that for 11 reps. With belt, no tempo. I figured I’d go for 440lbs to push things. So with that change, I altered the jumps working up (was going to do 50lbs and switched to 70lbs). 365lbs felt a little heavier than I would’ve liked but I haven’t done that weight as a warm up set so far. I started to lose my brace on that top set near the end of it and called it on that last rep. Lower body was still good for more but not my core without a belt. But this is a 55lbs increase in beltless work for rdls since training with Drew. Took a bit of rest and went with 390lbs for the down set. This was fairly comfortable considering. I will miss the rdls as we switch over. Then on to the hatfields. The front foot elevated Bulgarian split squat hatfields. Goal was 3x8 at slightly higher RPE with suggested being 145-155lbs. With mores set but lower reps with the 5 second eccentrics, I should be good with the increased weight. Some hesitation just from how wrecked I my legs had felt after all those squats on Saturday. Knees weren’t feeling too bad but that could also be from all the anti-inflammatories I was taking to combat the neck pain. Sometimes the ssb on my back didn’t feel great on the neck if it wasn’t on just right. But the pressure, sweat and heat was reactivating the Icy Hot so it was also helping. Fatigue had been high by the end of the sets last week which was why I felt that 155lbs might be about it. Left side seemed to get crisper as I went and while seeming to be easier on the right side, it was fatiguing harder. I’ve not really had the chance to do these more than like one week at a time so if these continue, I’m curious to what I can work up to as I start to feel more comfortable with them. Barely needed any warming up compared to say the knees over toes FFE stuff earlier this cycle. Rows up again. Chest supported barbell rows again but with 3-4 second holds. App had 3x6 but the text indicated to a top set of 6-8 (1RIR) and then a down set of 8-10 2-3RIR. With how long the holds are, it was going to be less the ability to row the weight and more being able to hold it after fatigue over the set. I had went with 205lbs with the thought that 6 reps could be the limit here and then because of how hard that fatigue would hit going about 50lbs less for the down set to ensure getting the reps and leaving RIR. So I was kind of shocked that I got to 6 easy enough and then got a 7th and felt I was too close to stop there and went for the 8th. That was definitely the limit similar to the rdls without a belt. I went up slightly on the down set as even if it felt easy to row, I was going to probably fatigue hard just from the effort and focus of this set and it not being that big a deal. So I stopped at 9 rather than try and push for the 10th. Grip work again. Alternating with the one arm hangs with these thick grip frame shrugs. Plan was just one set of like 25-50 reps (or 45 seconds of work). I was also going to try and do more of a row/high pull with it with the arms as suggested by Drew when I showed him video last time. I was not sure how these would go with adding 15lbs more than what I did last time for 2x30 seconds. I did 50lbs-ish jumps and those felt solid. These felt better compared to last time. Left hand ended up being the one that was slipping on me near the end. I ended up putting it down early to regrip so that I could finish up and got two more reps before setting down when the 45 seconds were up. So yeah, not really concerned with my grip at the moment. Last thing was just the band hamstrings. Next week changing with the deadlift switch to something else. I was kind of glad no sled dragging after this with it being really cold and potential snow tomorrow. Same setup I’ve been doing with the bands for 2x30. Lower body was feeling the rdls and hatfields on top of these leg curls. Put stuff away and stretched before eating dinner. No icing as I was taking a good bit of anti-inflammatories. Hopefully the neck calms down fully tomorrow so not as miserable.
Comments: Feeling a bit worn. Stuff is hard but I know it isn’t supposed to be easy. It doesn’t say comfortable or easy. But always feel like got some more time before it becomes difficult rather than all of a sudden. Last week was a rough one for training just going from stuff feeling decent to stuff feeling difficult in the form of incline pressing and squatting for the more gym work. Sandbag was a bit rougher than I would’ve like it to be. Could be just fatigue in my legs from the increasing work. Annoyed that no one else is signing up for the shows I’m doing at this point (so again, kind of hoping for Arnold so I know I have something). I don’t see the point in doing a show with less than 3 people as no Nats invite. Seems I picked the wrong show for that month that a number of people will do as one in Ohio two weeks later is sold out (but I didn’t care for the events). But thinking about how younger guys are able to come back real quick. Not just that I’m older but that I’ve been doing this like 10yrs longer than everyone else still doing this. But feeling worn in that my neck and shoulders feeling tight. Despite doing a good bit of soft tissue work on my body Sunday after icing knees twice Saturday. This week is again offseason with what appears to be the plan is to wait until either after Christmas or New Year’s before doing stuff requiring the strongman gym (equipment and intensity). Circus dumbbell had me a little nervous just because of how my shoulders and neck were feeling. Indication was pauses for another week. 5x3 still and suggested 10-15lbs increase. I decided to go with 15lbs. More weight on the dumbbell meant that I could mess around with placement to make the plateloaded handle be more like how a circus dumbbell feels. And every time I make adjustments, it changes the form a little bit on how I need to rack the dumbbell. But finally enough to get it to be feeling like a circus dumbbell. Definitely noticeable on the right side in my obliques with having to position things. Both sides had a little issue with the position the first rep or so but then evened out after that. Left side my biceps cramped a little on that first set. Guess still feeling them from last week. I’m starting to feel more confident with this as far as the pressing and racking. Still got loads to work on. Took shorter rests between sides (less than 40 seconds) but took about 75 seconds between sets. Into the garage for more shoulder work with the seated presses with dumbbells. This time being plan of 5lbs more for 2x10 and report back RIR. Took a little more figuring out to get the dumbbells right for the top set. I felt it was best to do more sets working up. That seemed to help. Shoulder aches didn’t seem to be present this week. Maybe finally getting resolved or my shoulders were too bruised from the circus bell to notice. These dumbbells feel massive but pressing seems to be quite strong. I don’t recall pressing this weight for this kind of reps. First set the shouldering felt easier but reps felt a little tougher. Second set the shouldering was not as crisp but reps felt stronger. I can still go up in weight with these funky loaded dumbbells before having to put 25’s on both sides (I think just shy of 100lbs). Back outside again for band assisted pull-ups. No tempo this week (but advised to not let myself “drop” on the eccentric) and adjust band help so that 2x8-12 with 2-3RIR worked. So figured I’d drop the band down to the lowest pin setting I’ve done so far and see if that worked out. I’ve done 10 reps on this setting but not sure on the RIR for that. And I’d have more control on these compared to then as working to get that full ROM. Managed to do 2x12 on these. Felt good. Back into the garage for the rest of the workout with dumbbells. Pullovers with tempo again and again the idea to be a top set of 8-12 with 2-3RIR. Advised this is the last week of these. I figured I’d go big so as not to deal with plates and such for the rest of the workout and just use the solid dumbbells. So that would be a big jump so did 40’s for 2x3 to warm up. Plan was just to hit 8 with 70lbs. That was close. Again, the right triceps feels like it wants to cramp up on these. Lying dumbbell extensions after that. Same as last week with 3x10-15 with 3-4RIR. Advice being that 40’s is fine to stick with if solid dumbbells for these with my levers. My hope here was that they’d feel better this week compared to last. I did a set with the 10’s to warm things up. Maybe that helped. These did feel better this time. Less aches. I was kind of surprised I got 15 that first set as I was really just aiming for 3x12. I was able to stick to the shorter side of the rests here. Reps went down the other sets sticking to the RIR plan. I’m just glad that the aches and such from last week weren’t as present. Then to end things was the paused side bend with staggered stance. Added thing was that reps decreased (10-12), holds increased (3-5ct) and RPE increased (7.5-8 RPE). I was contemplating doing 80lbs for both sets but with the increased hold time, I felt it was best to do 70lbs again to see as 40lbs was feeling more challenging compared to how it was last week with the longer holds. 70lbs was too easy so went up to 80lbs. That was challenging but more so in that grip was getting taxed as it was over 90 seconds for these sets. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out.
One Leg Deadlifts 65x3/3 105x3/3 145x3/3 185x6/6 185x6/6 200x6/6
Sandbag Load Over Bar (58.5”) 175x2 175x2 225x1 225x1 EMOM 225x2 225x2 225x2 225x2 225x2
Sandbag Bear Hug Carries (turns at 50’) 225x100’ 225x100’
Stretching
Comments: I was feeling sore and tired. Had already decided I wanted to prioritize sleep and not worry about having to go out to train anywhere today the day before. This was the first workout on the weekend that could potentially justify the drive but only barely. It will depend what the next week has as plans but that could require trip if there is a need for progressive overload beyond increase in sets, reps or distance. I had intended to do recovery work after the second training session this week but just didn’t have the time without taking away from other things. Temperature at least seemed like it would be consistent today. I had left my car outside overnight so that I could right into training when I felt like it. That might have been a good or bad idea potentially (I’ll get to that later when it matters). Cold enough to warrant warm ups but I knew that by the time I got to the exercises with weights I could go to just shorts and t-shirt. First thing was hip airplanes as have been the case now for several weeks. Same tempo and sets/reps. Switched back to starting on the other side first. Didn’t feel as tight in the hamstrings/hip/groin as last week. There was some tension in the lower legs near the end of the sets but it wasn’t as intense as it had been that first set last week. I made sure to focus on a single point the entire time and that seemed to help with the balance issues a good bit as I didn’t have any stumbles this week (still resolved to the hand support). So that was a pleasant surprise. From there it was on to squats with the ssb. Same minimal gear and plan here was 275x3x10 and report back RIR on the last set. Legs were sore but more the top of the quads and not the knee area. I didn’t feel the need to do much mobility stuff to get ready and legs felt warm doing just some bodyweight motions. Plan was work up and drop off 2 reps each jump. Stuff was feeling good until I got to 205lbs. Then it started to feel heavy. Next jump also felt tougher than I would’ve liked and I kind of knew this was going to not be a walk in the park situation. Felt harder on the core for bracing and my legs were feeling fatigue which meant I didn’t feel comfortable doing kind of the fast clip style of squatting and it came to doing a few reps and then doing slower style of reps with a reset. These were gassing me a good bit too. As has been the case, I felt I was getting better as I went despite feeling more fatigue and being out of breath. While there is a decent amount of RIR, these were going to be grinding lifts and it was quite a drop from how I felt the week before on that last set. That week was easier. But again, this is 15lbs heavier top weight and it was for 30 reps vs 8 reps. Volume wise, it was greater with less sets and less rest. But it was certainly having me feel like underprepared for anything at this point. Not like I could go right into a show next week like sometimes I’ve felt in offseason training (I was feeling that before). But just seeming that I needed time to recoup and that still got things that need work. I should know that endurance comes back quick when pushed and strength as well. I also need to remind myself that this bar seems to be tougher than the one at the strongman gym (I use 10% less it seems). Anyways, onward. Single leg pulls but this time from the floor. No tempo and indication was to doe 3x6 at RPE 7 and reset each rep. Try to wedge it off the floor. I was not sure what to expect on these. The increased ROM could be tricky but doing controlled tempo should hopefully cover that part. So the lack of tempo meant not as taxing on the grip (which has gotten a workout this week). Stuff was feeling decent and the usual jumps from last week seemed to be working. Balance was certainly trickier. Weight feels fine enough but the balance is hard so tried to use that more to gauge the RIR and effort than the weight really. Last minute I switched up the side I started with. Last week, my left side seemed to be handling things better so I had made that that the other side for this session as right knee was feeling a little tender initiating the lift like last week. However, it seemed to be fine once I got underway. Left side was the one the was struggling with balance. Last rep on that side that first set was really bad so I stuck to the same weight for the second set, even though it had felt easy for the right side. Second set was a lot better so I decided to go up in weight for the last set. Balance was tricky again but I feel not as bad as that first set. I kind of wanted to see 200lbs on one leg done with this setup. I know these will get better. Feel these are really working the core and hamstrings hard. The rest of the workout was sandbag. This required somewhat of a break for planning and this had been why I was somewhat thinking about going to the strongman gym. Plan was to start off with sandbag loads over bar. Pick a weight that I could “sling around” for 5x2 EMOM and do it to 56-58” for some extension work. I was initially thinking that my sandbag choices weren’t the best for this as I had 112lbs, 175lbs and then 225lbs before going to a massive 360ish (that I’ve never attempted to lift yet as nothing in competition that heavy I’ve done or trained for so far). But considering how extension work had felt a couple weeks ago, it seemed like it met the definition of something I could sling around. Then overblowing how much a hassle it would be to setup as the yoke I used in the past was in the sun room. It wasn’t even going to be that difficult to move anyways but I was trying to think of using a platform in the garage to just load to and not have to worry about running around anything. I eventually just made myself get the light yoke out and walk around the house to the garage. It was then that I noticed something with my car. The front left tire was completely flat. Baffling since really the only driving I’ve done since coming back from nationals has been to go to the urgent care that one time for the elbow and backing in and out of the driveway for training. I’d have had issues if it was flat in the garage and couldn’t be moved outside to train. But also meant that even if I wanted to go to Lancaster, I really couldn’t. And imagine if it had gone while one the way there, while I was there or back? It would get handled but it would have been a lot of stress added. Take care of it after training. So takes some getting used to sandbags. Set yoke to 58.5” because it’s a little high. Out of practice, no loading events since June. Tactile sensation of rough canvas is also not pleasant at first either. 175lbs for a few doubles to get used to it again. Picking where the bag lands and not setting my grip. I’d do that if this was just planned singles but made no sense to do that for the first rep and then have to do stuff to get the second rep up anyways. Went ok enough I guess. These weren’t the best bags to do this compared to the ones at the gym. But I’m not really training this for this right now (unless it is Arnold odd object stuff) and no need to get used to a specific bag anyways. Certainly noticing fatigue. The last thing was sandbag carries. Indication was same bag as loads or one higher. If I wanted to make things harder, I was to take short rests between sets (2 sets of 100’) and not add load. I didn’t really have that option as next heaviest bag is heavier than any bag I’ve attempted to lift (did a pick with 350lbs at Nationals). My thinking here was to do it 50’ down and back to work the turn and not have the second set be just downhill vs uphill. Work on the bear hug style vs the load carry style since husafell carry is next event specific thing for me assuming no Arnold. I also felt I needed to train this style a bit so that not left with experimenting when the other style doesn’t work at a show (like the floppy bags at Nationals). I was also trying to move fast here. I noticed I had not put on my usual moving and loading event shoes on (I had meant to but I guess wore other shoes to move the yoke around to avoid them getting muddy or wet) but decided to just stick to what I had on at this point as this was just a breaking in week. So starting things off and the first half of the run on that first set is going fine. Then I hit the turn and I just felt all the power just leave my legs. It was like a plug went and just the power in my upper body as there. Lower body fatigue, potentially breathing off and pressure of implement on body at certain point. It was frustrating but I pushed through at this very slow pace back. I had intended to sprint with this and then take a very short rest and do it again to make it tough. Not happening, going to need to take a bit longer to assess the issue and not screw this up. So just shy of 2 minutes rest before I went again. That rest also included an attempt but having the bag fall over and me getting a little frustrated and resetting it. Even on the attempt I went it did similar but I just bruted it up and went. This felt better. I didn’t feel my legs leave me this time but it was only slightly faster because of the bobble at the start. Still slow from what I’ve done in the past but again, that was with setting my grip and not on the uphill/downhill situation of my street. That first set had me feeling like I’m really not in competition shape at this time and that I got a long way to go coupled with how swiss bar pressing felt the day before and the squatting beforehand. It’s worked out every time but still. Put stuff away and then spent a good bit of time taking the flat tire off and putting on the donut so I can take it to get fixed up later this coming week (I don’t really got places to be). Stretched out and iced my knees with a plan to ice them a second time before I hit the hay.
One Arm Standing/Braced Dumbbell Rows 64x5/5 84x5/5 116x3/3 136x3/3 172x12/12 156x12/12
Dumbbell Floor Presses (2 second eccentrics) 40’sx5 58’sx5 70’sx25 70’sx25
Band Y Raises to Overhead Presses (3 second holds) µb’sx10 µb’sx10 µb’sx10
Dumbbell Zottman Curls (5 second eccentrics) 28’sx10 28’sx10 28’sx10
Stretching
Comments: So intent had been to do recovery stuff like soft tissue work and icing for my legs after the last session. Prioritized sleep the day of the that training session and then had a lot of things going on the next day that left that stuff on the backburner again. Good news is the medication issue for the most important one has been resolved it seems (though now shipping issues preventing another for 10 additional days but not a required one). But this particular day has become more upper body focused that sore lower body wasn’t going to affect things. There was soreness for sure. Upper quads were sore and tight from the Bulgarian split squats. They always get like that after the switch up and especially with the increased eccentric time and added ROM. Thankfully I don’t really notice it when I’m walking around but they can be sore to the touch if enough pressure is applied. Abdominals were also feeling beat and sore from those one arm hangs (probably also with the heavy beltless rdls and the split squats as well) from having to hold up my knees and just bracing to keep from spinning around. Again, shouldn’t be a problem for this session but the next day maybe. Swiss bar incline bench again but no tempo. Plan here was to do 4x6 with 3-4RIR. Suggested weight was 195-225lbs. How I was thinking on these was 195lbs and then if feeling good add a little each set like I’ve been doing for several times when a range is given. Temperatures still fluctuating and seems drastic when the sun goes down as I was fine in shorts and t-shirt midafternoon but come training time I needed the warm-ups on for outside. So starting off, it was kind of weird with no tempo. Shoulders a little achy but fine it would seem. I was feeling like maybe I could do 195lbs as a warm up set and then do 225lbs for straight sets. But then it started to feel heavy in my hands working up. I then decided that if 195lbs didn’t feel super easy, I’d use that as the first set weight. It didn’t and it was feeling much harder than I would’ve liked that I decided I needed to use this for all sets to even have a shot at getting 4x6 done today with any RIR. Seeming to run into that issue I get on incline with that switch over from chest and shoulders rotating for triceps to take over. Less noticeable with using a log for pressing but definitely feeling it on the swiss bar with the 6” of added ROM. So sails feeling a little less full here. I’ve not done these outside of this training session in over a decade and I had been able to hit about 50lbs more for similar reps then (thought wearing wrist wraps). Last set did feel the best of these as far as moving and having sufficient RIR. I went lower side as it was more an outrunning of my sticking point and hitting a wall. Video shows that these looked really powerful. Then again, I haven’t pressed anything heavier than 185lbs on anything in over 7 weeks and this week was a bit rougher on shoulders and triceps with changes. But it also shows me that pressing is going to be an uphill battle going into next year, leaving where this one had left off. Also potentially tying up with anxiousness with potential competition coming up and feeling like I need to be a lot stronger than I am. But those are kind of the thoughts I have when I feel I’m not hitting what I should be. Joy doesn’t last long for me. With some changes to exercises for the workout, I didn’t put everything away outside so I could come back to it later. But I would be in the garage for the next two exercises. One arm rows again. Not tempo this time. Work up to a top set of 10-12 reps with 1-2RIR and slight pauses. Unlike with say pressing, I know that it is a lot more weight I can do on rows when pauses are removed. Pauses and tempo really lower the weight I use for rows but it doesn’t feel like I have doubts I can do the heavy stuff right away when dropped. Less weight and less wear on body. Just takes a bit to get warmed up for the heavier stuff safely. Concentric tempo certainly is similar in how much it seems to drop off what I can do on say pressing or leg work. No support stuff on these. Plan initially was like 50lbs jumps but changed my mind after seeing how pressing went. Best to be safe here and plan incase this was a day where top end wasn’t there. Stuff was feeling easy. I went with 172lbs (which is about what I can fit with the secure clamps) as that is the weight of the Inch Dumbbell. And close to the weight of the heavier dumbbell for PA Dutch. Weight was noticeable on my body. This was easy enough for rowing but just the body strain to brace took a bit of air from me but I was good after the first few reps as I got used to the pressure. Left side had an easier time. 10% off to match reps and I went with 156lbs (1lbs heavier) because of nostalgia for at show from almost 13yrs ago that had a one arm dumbbell clean and press with a 156lbs dumbbell in the SHW class (HW had 145lbs). No assistance from the other hand at that show and it was the first implement in a 6 part medley. That also was good. Again kind of surprised my grip was feeling fine after the one arm hangs. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells again. I felt that this time around, I should be able to push things more now that I knew how things would break down as fatigue set in. The setup to get into position was still going to be a disaster but the plan here was still weight light enough to be hitting over 20 reps. So depending on how things felt, I had plan to do either 58lbs (6lbs handles loaded with overweight 25’s) and if that was too easy after a few reps, then go bold and attempt the 70lbs. Did 40’s for 5 and then the 58’s for 5 and decided I could do at least 20 reps with the 70’s. Though it could be tricky for a second set depending on how hard the fatigue hits me. The 25’s on the dumbbells aren’t an issue here like with shoulder presses or normal style benching as ROM isn’t affected since elbows hit before these would hit my chest. The added surface area does as comfort with the kick up as well. Those 70’s were a pain to get into position. Trying to be efficient but perhaps I may just need to stop trying to not expend energy on that portion if solo and just bully them up. Falling back with them lead to some back cracks (audible one on the first set). First set went about expected. Second set was getting into the area of triceps and shoulder fatigue. But the thing is that if I just over extend on that side (the right) I seem to be able to reset position and keep going, which is what I ended up doing near the end. Put that stuff away and then back outside for bands. Yes, I probably could’ve done them in the garage but I felt less issues with dealing with potentially hitting the ceiling and it was less time setting up if I left the power rack loaded with the anchor plates rather than moving them inside on to a different rack (this was less a thing the previous weeks as the weight I was using for the incline pressing hadn’t warranted needing anchor weights to keep rack from moving). So this was a little different. Y band raises with holds I’ve done enough of. It had been warm up exercise for a few trainings and I’ve done them at shows to get things moving well. But the change was to do an overhead press after the 3 second hold and that would be one rep. First set the pressing part seemed extraneous to me and not feeling like it was doing much of anything. However, I realized halfway through the second set that I was thinking too rigidly and was doing an overhead press as if I was just doing a press in the same ROM as the shoulder position and not doing it as if I were trying to do a press and touching my shoulders. I think I was thinking too much of it like it was one of the YTW exercises or a scarecrow. That adjustment was felt immediately and added to the difficulty. Not as apparent on the third set after getting used to that. Then the last thing was biceps and the zottman’s with the added eccentrics for 3x10. I was initially going to stick to the same weight as last week and try to stick to shorter rest periods (I was taking slightly longer as my arms were fatiguing so hard) but I did decide to add 2lbs to the dumbbells. First set went great and then started to get fatigue on the second set. The good was that I wasn’t really feeling any shoulder stiffness/tightness in the right side which has been the case some times with biceps stuff. I was getting some sensations of elbow tendonitis (tennis elbow vs golfer’s elbow) on the right side (which may be apparent as more pressing pops up). Last set was rough as it felt like my right side was giving out trying to control the eccentric like I recall sometimes happening with long eccentrics on triceps with dumbbells in the past (like first training cycle in 2021). But somehow even with that sensation, I was still able to stick to the tempo. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out. I was debating traveling to train with some of the workout changes for the next session but felt it was best to stay home, get quality sleep and not stress about it. Nothing yet has been a must go out to train at the strongman gym yet.
I’m a little taller than 6′6″ and I really like to lift weights. I’m a competitor in amateur strongman contests. My hope is to become a competitive professional strongman. Currently I'm training for Northeast Regionals in Monaca, PA on 6/1/2024. I’m not a major competitor yet and I have a long way to go but I’m having fun.
