January 25, 2023 – Week 14, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Suited Trap Bar Deadlifts (15”, straps)
No Suit
140x3
230x3
320x3
Added Suit
410x2
480x2
550x2
625x3
625x3
625x3
575x12

Hatfield Bulgarian FFE Split Squats (2”)
65x3/3
115x3/3
155x3/3
205x3/3
245x8/8
245x8/8

Single Leg Seated Band Hamstring Curls (explosive reps, full ROM)
lbx20/20
lbx20/20
lbx20/20

Paused Titan Fitness Frame Shrugs (finger tips, 2 seconds)
205x5
255x5
Cluster Reps (15 seconds)
295x15+12/3 (7 seconds to finish last set)

Stretching
 
Comments: Woke up and joints were a little achy and stiff. Maybe from the weather with the snow coming through. Could be that just feeling all the work from the Monday training and getting under heavy circus dumbbell. The right knee was what I was most concerned with but luckily it seemed to feel better as the day went on. Possibly from me pacing a lot during work and getting some blood flow haha. So this session started off much the same as the lower body session with deadlifts has. Again, warming up wasn’t specified but I did the same stuff I’ve done with slight modification because not really able to put pressure on the elbow. And then it was trap bar again. Heavy week. Integrate the suit. Plan for the session was to work up to 625lbs for 3x3 and note RIR on that last set and then take off 50lbs and do a rep set with that leaving 2-3RIR (stop before I feel like I’d have a grinding lift). We don’t know what the weight in hand is going to be for the car deadlift yet but last time they did it a few years ago it was about 645lbs so that is good place I feel to get an idea of what to expect. But need to work somewhat heavy and reps. Suit work for reps is definitely different. Sometimes the suit can be determinantal when it is a lighter weight for time. Now that I think on it, this might be the first time I’m getting to do a car deadlift and have a suit for it. Figures I got one pretty much the year after SC stopped using the event and really allowing suits in the big shows. Oh well. It has been since August that I’ve used the suit. There does feel like a break in period usually but figured that there was less issues with it being side handled lift and I was right. The suit didn’t feel substantial to me as single ply compared to the dual ply briefs I had gotten. I can only imagine how taxing a suit of that material would be. Getting the suit to sit right definitely took a little bit. Also trying to be mindful of the bursitis and not get the suit strap caught on that getting it up to the shoulder. I was initially worried that I wasn’t going to get enough out of the suit with how it was sitting, even with the three pairs of spandex briefs. My leg composition and size aren’t consistent. But it does enough. I also have to remember that the suit doesn’t make the weight lighter, just moves it better. Tried to do these working weights low key style as this shouldn’t be something crazy with the suit. First set I felt like I had +5RIR. The second set it wasn’t feeling as strong and had less than 5RIR. I decided to change the order of the briefs (one is Under Armor and the other two are Cadmus) to see if that changed things at all as far as the legs riding up. Maybe it did or could just be me thinking that last set best set as it felt the easiest and smoothest of the sets. Then it was time for the rep set after taking off 50lbs. I was feeling like I had to get at least 12 reps here to really be getting things right. I got a little more excited for this one and got music that would cue me in for repping and fast. Things started off well but I could tell that I needed to slow down to keep my breathing. I kept feeling like I could do another rep and did that for like the last 4 reps of the set and stopped at 12 reps. I feel 3 more reps was definitely there. 12 reps in under 30 seconds so I still had plenty of time to pace things out. I’ll see where I’m at more top end with this setup and suit tension to see if this is what I’m going for. But this might be the suit tightness I use for the show if it is about the same weight as last time this was contested. Ready for whatever. Goal is to not lose many points here at show. I feel confident in getting 2nd place but 1st might be a bridge too far considering who will be doing this show. I won’t chase them if it is some ridiculous number and terribly fatiguing as this show has key events for me that are posterior chain intensive. But happy with how this went. I feel I need to do reps with 650lbs at minimum and preferably 700lbs to be on the safe side for the upper end. From there it was on to front foot elevated Bulgarian split squat hatfields. Plan for the session was to do 2x8 with expectation to do a top set of 10-12 next time (though that appears to have changed). I was initially thinking I’d go for broke and do 245lbs on these which would be 20lbs jump from last week. As I got closer to this session, I wondered if that was too aggressive. And then I was kind of worn from the rep set on the deadlifts but decided I’d warm up how I was planning to and if I felt ok, I’d go for it. If not, 10lbs under that goal. I was surprised that this ended being the session of these with the least amount of knee discomfort I’ve had. This was also probably the closest I’ve gotten to the suggested RPE. I feel like I said that last time. These have been good and I know that these will be switched out soon. Next up was single leg curls with bands. Same as last week with them being seated and done explosively with full ROM. These had crept up on me as far as fatigue last time I did them. I was a bit more prepared for it this time. Same band tension and goal of 3x20 on these. This time there didn’t feel like a discrepancy between the sides. Both felt equally fatigued this time haha. I’m glad I was able to get 3x20 this time around. I may need to up the band tension next time and just am for the lower rep range with that increase to make sure I’m getting full ROM on these again. Last thing was those damn fingertip frame shrugs with second holds. Last time it had been 30 reps total doing cluster sets of 10 reps and then rest 15 seconds (10 seconds wasn’t enough time). So to progress, the plan here was to do 2 sets of 15 reps with one 15 second break. Warmed up the same as last time and used the same weight (indication was to use between 285-305lbs and 295lbs was just a plate on each corner). So I was successful for the first set but I knew I had my work cut out for me on the second set. The thing is that it’s not like an improvement throughout with the shrug. I do a higher shrug when less fatigued and that saps more energy so still very challenging after only a few reps. I got to work for that second set and I knew I was fading. I ended up having to set it down with 3 reps to go. Took me 7 seconds to recover enough to finish out the set. Annoyed I couldn’t get it done in two complete sets but oh well. I also did a lot more heavy pulls compared to last time these were in the workout. Put stuff away and ate a roast for dinner. Stretched out and iced my knees before bed.