December 17, 2022 – Week 8, Day 4

Hip Airplanes (0-10-0-10 tempo)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Safety Squat Bar Squats (beltless)
65x10
115x8
155x6
205x4
245x2
295x8
302x8
309x8
315x8

One Leg Deadlifts
65x3/3
105x3/3
145x3/3
175x3/3
205x8/8
205x8/8

Sandbag Roll-ups Off Box (18”)
112x3
112x3
175x3
175x3
225x12
225x12

Stretching
 
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.