December 21, 2022 – Week 9, Day 2

Yielding Deadlifts (3 seconds mid-shin)
135x3
185x3
225x2
265x2
305x2
345x3
345x3
345x3

Trap Bar Deadlifts (17”, straps)
375x3
415x3
465x3
505x3
555x3
607x8
546x8

Hatfield Bulgarian FFE Split Squats (2”, 5 second eccentrics)
65x3/3
115x3/3
155x3/3
185x8/8
172x8/8

Chest Supported Barbell Rows (straps)
145x5
185x5
225x10
230x10
235x10

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.