January 11, 2023 – Week 12, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Trap Bar Deadlifts (15”, straps)
140x3
230x3
320x3
410x2
480x2
550x2
622x7

Trap Bar Deadlifts (15”, straps, 5/0/0/1 tempo)
550x4
550x4
550x4

Hatfield Bulgarian FFE Split Squats (2”)
65x3/3
115x3/3
155x3/3
205x10/10
205x10/10
205x10/10

Paused Standing Single Leg Band Hamstring Curls (3 seconds)
sb+lbx12/12
sb+lbx12/12
sb+lbx12/12

Paused Titan Fitness Frame Shrugs (finger tips, 2 seconds)
205x5
255x5
Cluster Reps (15 seconds)
295x10+10+10

Stretching
 
Comments: I was still mulling over the circus dumbbell disappointment. Extrapolating to a theme of overhead/pressing training seeming to not be where it was for shows in the past. Thinking I’m really not cut out for this as always struggling on those kind of events and never guaranteed to have it be a comfortable weight like other stuff. I can assume I’m ready but then stuff seems to not pan out. Been at this for 14yrs and been really trying for 10yrs to go pro. I feel time is running out to fix it. Underperforming in overhead had almost had me withdraw from competing at Nationals this past year when it ended up being my highest placing I’ve had. I won an event by a good margin too. And yet, I feel I’m not good enough. So wrestling with those thoughts/emotions had me moving a bit slower the next day and into the following day. Got most things done but didn't budget time for soft tissue work. I’m not sure what the fix is but maybe the answer is cutting back more on overhead training as I get older. I seem to still be good with lower body trainings and upper back stuff and midsection. I also was a bit more worn than I thought with the stones as I noticed I had a lot of healing bruises on my inner thighs from them I hadn’t noticed initially. Well I keep going as I don’t quit easy. Warming up wasn’t specified but I did the same stuff I’ve done the past two weeks. Trap bar again. The goal was work up to 615-625lbs for a max rep set leaving 2RIR with goal being like 8 reps or so. Indication is that will back off on deadlifts and go more a alternating speed sessions to allow more focus on the stones. We do know now that suits allowed for car deadlift but I’d like to keep with building raw numbers and get some touches in the suit to get used to reps. So same warming up as last week besides the last jump to the top set. I was feeling decent working up. Some lower back tightness to the right side. I went 2lbs heavier just because the heavier sets of 25’s were easier to get to. I got set and went at it. Felt my right knee make a slight pop as I broke the weight off the ground. More like a cracking knuckles situation. I’m not sure if the garage section was slightly tilted or if I had the bar or straps not even but it was having one side touching slightly before the other and it was throwing me off a little. Besides the first rep, the 6th rep felt the best. I slowed down the descent on the 7th rep and felt that the 8th was going to be a heck of a grinder (and might have to restart) so I stopped before I put more than 70% into the pull to settle for 7 reps. I knew that I can still gut out deadlifts when I’m having a bad week or feeling bad physically or mentally. I was feeling quite worn from this and figured that I’d probably be still feeling it when it came time to do the eccentric work. Same weight as last week with plan being 3x4 this time. It was supposed to be 2x4 last time but I miscounted and decided to even things out. These felt harder this time around. At least for the first set. Very similar feeling to that first week of trap bar pulls when I initially couldn’t get the weight on the downset after the work set due to just being fatigued. It did feel better on the second set. Third set I got a little off balance at lockout that first rep and I had to get things stable before resuming. Suffice to say, I am looking for a little break on these as far as heavy heavy every week. Then on to the front foot elevated Bulgarian split squat hatfields. For these, advised to work up in triples to 3x8-10 at RPE 8. I wanted to do 205lbs. Break the 200lbs barrier. I was expecting 3x8 on these and it being tough but so be it. But that didn’t end up being the case. I actually got 3x10. Right side feels stronger on these. I am gassing between sides when I take shorter rests compared to longer rest between sets. Next up was standing single leg curls with bands again. Same 3x10-15 with 3 second holds. I added another band to the mix and hoped it would be challenging enough to have me drop reps finally. It did. I was thinking of only doing 10 reps that last set but I pushed on to get 3x12. Definitely was taking more rest between sides compared to when I first did these and was just hoping from one to the other. Upon review of video, I was taking longer rests compared to usually doing on stuff and that might have been from me having my legs be tired and sucking wind as well as having indigestion. So then the last thing of the session was grip work with the frame shrugs. Those fingertip ones with up explosive and hold for 1-2ct. Plan was to use the same dumb weight I picked last time I did these but do it as a 30 rep set of 10 rep clusters and report back. I did 5’s warming up to get a feel and had the jumps more reasonable compared to last time. As I knew what I was getting into. There is something very exhausting about doing an explosive movement with holds repeatedly. It’s a different kind of fatigue. Like, you feel you’re fatigued and couldn’t any more but then find a way to be even more fatigued as you go on. I did 15 seconds rest between the sets of cluster reps. Managed to get through them. No exaggeration but these were the hardest thing to get through of the session. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching. Iced knees before bed.