January 7, 2023 – Week 11, Day 4

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

Paused Cossack Squats (5 seconds)
bwx5/5
bwx5/5

Safety Squat Bar Squats
65x10
115x8
155x6
205x4
245x2
295x2
335x5
335x5
335x5
335x5

Paused Sandbag Rows (3 seconds, short ways)
125x3
150x3
175x3
205x5
225x5
250x5

Atlas Stone Loads (55”, tacky)
265x1
290x1
310x1
335x1
350x1 (21”)
375x1 (egg)
335x3
335x3
335x3

Backward Sled Drags (concrete, 60 seconds rests)
340x100’
340x100’
340x100’
340x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: The week was catching up to me. I felt compelled to get stuff I’ve kind of put into the routine done that are perhaps not necessary. But I guess I feel like if I can’t do things my way, if I have to cut things out and sacrifice things, then I couldn’t in the first place. I want to do everything I think, know and say I can. Anyways, I felt worn and tired this week. And I was a tad nervous about this session. I wanted to make sure I was rested so since I got to sleep late, I kept hitting snooze until I felt I was rested enough. Had to bring some things to the gym that I’ve not had to in a long time so I made sure I had everything before I went. Again, drive out wasn’t that bad. I ended up getting there at the tail end of the large group of people training finishing up. Ended up chatting with people again. A few doing events for the PA Dutch show and also having issues with getting answers on specifics from promoter (I’ve been asking questions since October and still having issues getting answers). Things like that do make it frustrating tied in with the Regional system second year and of the 3 that have entries fees, only one of them has interesting/thought out events. And thankfully it is the one that I’ve signed up for and the cheaper one. If this is how these are going to be (a lot less interesting/fun stuff compared to last year for the other regions), there will be less incentive I feel for myself to do them and just try to do local shows only (even if not thrilled with those either). But that’s not a current problem. Warming up was a little different for today. Yes, same hip airplanes to start things off but only two sets of them as adding another exercise. Ankles and achilles tendons have felt stiff/tight/sore the past week or so. Hip airplanes felt really easy today. So much so that I barely took any break between sides I think I accidentally lost track of what I was doing on some reps and did closer to 15 seconds or more on the holds in the positions haha. Next was Cossack squats. Been a bit since I’ve really done these. There had been those lateral lunges but not quite the same. Same reps as the hip airplanes and holds of 5 seconds to stretch out hips, hamstrings and adductors. Did these with knee sleeves and no shoes. Right side was easy, left leg was really tight in the stretch position. Left side felt wonky because of my knee with how it feels, so a bit more slow going here. Second round felt a lot better. Before moving on to squats, I tested the rolling handles just for my own curiosity due to how hard the barbell situation had been at home and it was ton easier. Investing in pair for home use. Squats with ssb up next. Plan was to work up to 325-345x4x5, keeping things at RPE 6-7 each set. Belt allowed again. I was nervous about this. Not the weight but just the weight being as effortless as planned really. I wasn’t sure I could make even 295lbs feel that easy really with how things felt last week and just how I was feeling this week after heavy pulls. I will say that the warming up with Cossack squats certainly felt more sufficient a warm up for me compared to just the hip airplanes as I was pretty much just able to go right into squatting. I know I can do more weight with a belt as it allows my core to brace better and I can get away with more forward lean when I get tired and still push through with the ssb. But I wasn’t sure my legs were ready for it considering that 335lbs was the most weight I’ve done for squats since Nationals. It took some convincing to just go for it. Weight felt better as I went but I felt more fatigued as I went. So it wasn’t like where I feel slow/off at the start and last set weight is the easiest. This was more how people would normally feel I guess doing sets of heavy squats. But I know they are good for me. So part one of two stressful things done. Next was essentially warming up for the next stressful thing. Sandbag rows to work up for stones. Plan was 3x5 ranging from RPE 6-7 with 3 second holds. No support gear of any kind because I don’t for stones. Short ways as well. Warming up felt fine on these. I know I’ve done a lot of reps without pauses in the past or shorter pauses. And I think wearing some support equipment. I do have a stone of steel I could use but perhaps not right now as sandbag offers greater ROM. So the first two sets felt about right as far as difficulty because they weren’t as packed so they kind of folded in half so more ROM on these and balance was key. Which made it a little frustrating that the 250lbs actually felt more comfortable than the previous sets. I was tempted to do another set with 275lbs felt this was more to get ready for stones and save that for next time if this is planned again. Then it was stones. I was nervous. Been like 18 months since I last touched them. There is so much prep for stones compared to other events/loading. Clean up can take just as long if not longer. I’m good at these but I’ve not done them in so long. Just not as contested an event as it was back when I started. I know from past experience that long layoffs from doing them that my pick is usually ok but extension beyond say 48” is crap. Just not a lot of things I can do that mimic that and build compared to the picking up of the stone. Plan for the day was work up to a single at RPE 6-7 and then reduce by 10-12.5% for 3x3. This also depended on stone selection. There are normal jumps up to 375lbs and then the next stone is 425lbs and then like 5-10lbs after that to 453lbs I think and then 490lbs. So I kind of felt that 375lbs would be the top end here. In order to make sure I didn’t try to get crazy, I made sure I was loading 4” higher than contest height so that would be the limiting factor. One thing that has happened since I last did stones was they reweighed stones. Some stones were lighter and some were actually heavier. Now, I normally skip certain stones because I know they are not good (dusty) but I knew I couldn’t really skip some stones due to being out of it for a while. I was supposed to get in some decent singles working up to get that form down. I didn’t want to start on the smaller diameter stones (18”). First stone was one I always avoid due to how dirty/dusty it is. It was taking a bit to warm up the tacky. Picks were feeling easy but I was tending to rush things like I was used to it. I need to remember to take my time and get set. I was really happy the picks were feeling as easy as they were. It took me until I got to 335lbs to realize I needed to not rush off the lap as that one almost came back down on me. 350lbs was the 21” stone and that one is good one for the pick due to use and it being made by a professional from years back. My upper back mobility finally woke up for that one. I could’ve gone for 365lbs 22” stone but I figured I’d rather do the 375lbs egg shaped stone. That one went well. As far as gauging things, the RPE for the load portion was higher than suggested with how out of practice I was for heavy stones whereas the pick was like RPE 6 or less. I’m really happy with that part of things. If I went by effort for the extension, 335lbs would’ve been where I stopped. The next thing was the triples. 335lbs fell into the numbers for that. These weren’t easy. The other thing with stones is these are a mix of power and grinding. If power isn’t there, then they are grinding. I don’t have the right stuff just yet first session back so reps were just gassing me. I had to treat these like singles to get through it. I didn’t retack after the last single for the first set. First two sets took me like 90 seconds to finish the triples. Last set I felt better and it was under a minute to finish. Deloading each rep does take up time positioning is a bit more an issue compared to loading over a bar. Lower back was definitely feeling these by the end but I persisted. Just going to probably be tough for training this coming week.  Then it was time to clean up and that took at least 20 minutes. Also painful with the raw skin on my stomach. I don’t miss that from stones. I will need to get more tacky as I apparently had less than I thought I did. I will get more Spider Tack but going to try some STAB Tack and cleaner from recommendation from a pro that used to live in the area to see how that feels. I generally don’t like doing stuff after stones because of that feeling I have all over from all the clean up and degreaser stuff. But there was one more thing. Conditioning for the legs. I mentioned that with how light the husafell stone is, that I need to get used to longer distance stuff for this but it isn’t conducive to train front carry every week when got to work up to heavy stones and pulls. So this was sled drags with short rests. Notes were 4x100’ with 60 seconds rest and make it hard. Backwards drags because slower and for added knee health aspects (and generally backwards for contests anyways). Outside for these and it felt nice (I was sweating like crazy from stone lifting but not as bad as I do when it’s warmer). I initially thought I was too light with how the sled was feeling but the last 20’ the friction on that part of the concrete was rough and I figured that it would be challenging enough with short rests. I managed to keep things consistent pace the first three runs but then fatigue caught up with me on the last run and it took me like 20 seconds longer to finish compared to the other three (they were all sub 40 seconds). This was actually perfect for what was wanted for these. Put those away and decided to say and stretch out before driving home (I was initially going to drive home and shower and then stretch). Again, minimal issues with my knees for the drive back home. Finished up watching WSM for 2022 before getting cleaned up and dinner ready. Iced knees before bed and applied lotion to the raw skin from stones.