December 31, 2022 – Week 10, Day 4

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

Safety Squat Bar Squats (beltless)
65x3
109x3
153x3
197x3
241x3
285.5x3
335x8 PR+10lbs

Sandbag Roll-ups Off Box (18”)
125x3
125x3
175x3
175x3
225x3
225x3
275x16
275x17

Dumbbell Sumo Romanian Deadlifts (24” stance)
20’sx5
40’sx5
60’sx5
80’sx5
100’sx15
100’sx15

Husafell Carries (taken from 20” box, turns at 50’)
Regular Grip
110x100’
160x100’
200x100’
Staggered Grip
240x100’
270x100’
270x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: It’s going to take a bit of getting used to waking up early again on Saturdays for training. Had a nice evening with family the day before after I finished training and work. I had intentions of getting some things done before going to bed (write-up and deep thoughts) but found I wouldn’t have time for that to put in best effort and needing to get sleep so left those for the morning. Morning came (after hitting snooze button three times) but then felt still not enough time for that and that it made more sense to get out and train in Lancaster rather than dillydally and potentially hit traffic for people out and about for New Year’s. I hadn’t planned to go to the gym until next week but there were things that seemed to make more sense to go to the gym. Figured I’d make the most of that then. Drive out uneventful other than dense fog. Haven’t been out since September as far as driving longer distance by myself (less than 25 miles driven since October). Meant I could sing while I drove too haha. There were people there training a variety of things. Apparently one of the owners is now the state chair for PA for USS and will be hosting PA’s Strongest in September. Probably won’t do that show based off events but depends I guess on how things line up for the second half of the year. Besides wanting to use actual stuff for today rather than make adjustments, I had come out to train to see if some of the stuff was setup (as it had been last week) to see about measurements. This was a good thing for me as it turns out I was wrong on the car deadlift height. I was right in remembering the front bar attachment height as 17” but the side handles are 15”. So may need to adjust numbers for trap bar with that. I don’t want to mess up with heights and not train the start position right (which is the hardest part for me).  But hopefully I can stick with the stuff I’ve done the past two weeks as far as good work done. First thing was hip airplanes as has been the case. Same reps and tempo and sets. Of course different in that I don’t have the same station to setup like in the garage so that was really the only change. Also not the same path to “pace” between sets and sides so actually ended up being about 3 minutes shorter to do these as my rests were closer to 60 vs 90 because of that. It was then time to squat. Plan here was to work up to a top set of 8-12 reps on beltless ssb squats, working up in sets of 2-3 reps. This would be the last of the beltless squat work and belted going forward with more event based focus as the contest prep shifts into full gear. There were some things here that I could use (like a slant board) to help with getting ankles feeling ok. I figured I needed to do that since unlike past 9 weeks of training, I haven’t had to sit for 40 minutes prior to training driving in a car before doing them. The usual racks that I’ve used for squatting were in use, so I had to use one I’ve not used before for today. I’ve been under the impression that the ssb at the gym feels easier than the one I have at home (different brands) and my record keeping has it as about 10% difference. But also hard to know if just the bar camber with added weights is why my heaviest attempt at home seems to fall short of what expected maxes would be compared to lighter stuff on the gym ssb. But regardless, I’m keeping track on both since there appear to be periods where I do squats at the gym and squats at home. In either case, the plan was to do 335lbs for the top set and see how that works out. 315lbs (8 reps) had been the most weight I’d done at home whereas 335lbs (6 reps) the most at the gym (with best set of 8 being 325lbs). Jumps should’ve been easy of 40-50lbs really to get to that point and do triples all the way up (I seem to need more reps to get knees and such firing). I think due to where I was located (near the powerlifting section), it didn’t make sense to walk halfway across the gym for standard plates and just did kilo plates. Possibly to also distract myself and maybe end up doing more weight than I thought. Ankles and hips were feeling fine today and muscles felt good (right hamstring a little tight) but knees seemed to feel achy for everything. Funny enough, knees seem to feel better when I wear support gear around my midsection. Could be that being able to brace better leads to less issues elsewhere. So made 20kgs jumps here but made it a 22.5kgs jump for the last one as otherwise I’d be under the goal weight I had planned. Got set and it felt heavier than I would’ve liked but I knew I had a set of 8 reps in me once I got to 4 reps. Slightly pitched forward on the last one (I think I “dunked it” too much). So 10lbs increase on what I’ve done before. Previously there was a 60lbs difference in my belt vs no belt 8rm and now it is 50lbs. Who knows if this will continue as far as carryover as not really the focus going forward. Sandbag again. The lap and sit on a box and do squats/extensions with it. Indication was to do 265lbs for 2 sets of max reps leaving 2-3RIR. This was of course with the understanding I was at home and that was the weight I had (as next jump would be 363lbs lol). No 265lbs bag at gym so options were 250lbs or 275lbs to be in the right range. I decided to do 275lbs. Warming up it felt like best thing was to do triples with 50lbs jumps but doing more than one set at each weight. This seemed to work out well at home with the lack of reasonable jumps available and worked here as well as it gave me time to acclimate and was a bit more forgiving based on my penchant for talking people’s ears off if they paid me any mind or attention (which I blame for increasing the length of time I was at the gym by like an hour; I was starved of contact and conversation about strongman haha). Since my thinking here is this more to assist specifically with stones without stones, I went with the more compact and lumpy 275lbs vs the other one that was longer. Pick is always a little interesting but the movement itself is pretty good. I think I’m starting to enjoy them. The pick is going to be the limiting factor I think with these but a good way to get in a lot of reps. I actually feel I cut that first set a little short. Kind of surprised how strong I was feeling here and not expecting to get into this rep range. No support gear other than the knees sleeves for comfort (and it being more knee flexion compared to an actual stone load) since I don’t wear any belts for stones with tacky. Had my foot slip slightly on the sit back on the second set with the 16th rep. I feel that I could do sets of 20 reps with this weight and I’m curious to seeing how I could do with a lot heavier if this continues to be a drill (as I can see it as something that gets in reps without being stones). The next thing was something I thought I knew what to expect when I first got it but then as I read I realized it was something different. So exercise was listed as sumo rdls for light weight (RPE 6, 2x10-15). Ok, I know this one and I’ve not done these since probably 2014 or anything similar I guess. However, it indicated to do these with the same width as I would for an atlas stone pick and use dumbbells. So I wasn’t too sure what I could do here. I figured the dumbbells would make these a lot harder with the weight being so far out in front of the body at lockout as well as letting to keep neutral grip position like with a stone and straddling it. I went and measured my stance for a 22” stone (as those are the heavier weight stones for the show and I want to lift something massive) which was about 24”. I had no idea what to expect or how things would fatigue so I started with 20’s and went up 20lbs in sets of 5 until I felt I was at weight that 15 reps would feel like something. And that turned out to be 100’s. I like these. Last thing was husafell carries. Pick off box and do a light weight for 2x100-120’ with turn at halfway. This was my main reason for going to the gym was to do these. I don’t have a husafell carry at home currently (I had left it at the gym for someone training for a pro show last year). I was told I could do a keg or something instead but I felt that those would be a bit too different and require more of a hassle. I was also curious how things would feel since I’ve not trained this event since 2018 and there are potentially two competitors at the next show that are really good at this event. In hindsight, it was the right decision as I got to see how things were and the fact it started raining while I was at the gym so I would’ve been stuck in the rain if I was at home (and probably not gone as heavy on the previous two exercises due to lack of equipment/jumps). I set things on a box (20”) as indicated. No clue if this is going to be off a box or from the ground (likely from the ground) but best to train it however. I know that my lower back is going to get plenty of work from stones and car deadlift training and I find it is a little harder to get tension in biceps and lats loaded when picking off a box vs the ground. So works a tough spot and spares something as well. The weight is light for the show (300lbs) but it is likely going to be on thinner husafell. I started off with the Titan Fitness one (110lbs) for the first two sets holding it like how most people would. To go heavier really, I’d have to get creative so I said screw it and went with the next husafell that was a little thicker and heavier (150lbs without lid). Feeling ok but not terrible comfortable with the standard grip. Never has been for me. So for my planned work set of 240lbs, I went with my preferred staggered grip and it was super comfortable and easy. Too easy to stop here so I added 30lbs more and treated that as my working sets. I alternated sides on this as far as grip. Left high and right low is going to be the contest grip I use but I have to remember that stuff can happen like at 2017 Nationals where I injured my right wrist and couldn’t hold any weight and had to switch sides on the fly. Right high and left low doesn’t feel as good. Also need to remember that these husafells that are thin cut into my skin and I need to put on athletic tape, even at these weights. But good news is that 90% of contest weight feels comfortable and easy and something I can do for multiple sets. I honestly probably don’t need to go heavier than this and just work on my conditioning with it and repeatability. Stones and car deadlift are going to be heavier. I’m actually in a pretty good spot just with these initial touches with implements. 83% of contest for circus bell, 90% for husafell and likely the same for car deadlift (give or take 3-5%). Hercules hold should be already there. Stones will be the interesting one to see where I’m at. Cleaned up stuff and had a protein shake before driving home to then stretch and ice knees. One thing I noticed as that my knees didn't ache as much as they have in the past driving home after training so that is something I guess.