February 1, 2023 – Week 15, Day 2

Warm Up Circuit

Paused Trap Bar Deadlifts w/ bands (15”, 2 seconds, straps)
No bands
140x3
Add Bands (+48lbs/+112lbs)
140x3
230x3
320x3
410x3
410x3
410x3
410x3
410x3

Safety Squat Bar Step Ups (11” box, 3 second eccentrics)
65x3/3
90x3/3
115x10/10
125x10/10
135x10/10

Single Leg Seated Band Hamstring Curls (explosive reps, full ROM)
abx20/20
abx20/20
abx20/20

Paused Ab Wheel w/bands (2 seconds)
bw+µb’sx8
bw+µb’sx8
bw+µb’sx8

Stretching
 
Comments: Today was the first day I didn’t feel compelled to wear the ACE bandage all day. There is still fluid on the elbow but the surrounding area isn’t as inflamed and swollen like it had been. However, swelling is part of healing so I’m going to just apply it if it looks like the edema is coming back to an uncomfortable amount again and potentially after trainings like I’ve been doing with icing my knees. Just to lessen discomfort with the understanding this is pain management and not healing per se. Colder day today but not the coldest. Just odd with having it be sunny lately and cold. Had to move some stuff around in the garage to try out the new band platform. I had planned to do that earlier in the day but it seemed better to wait until after work. Instructions with assembly seemed to not have been correct for the band pegs to work on what I was using (maybe they work for a barbell). So that was a little more time there. Warming up wasn’t specified but I did the same stuff I’ve done the past few weeks with a slight modifications still. I didn’t do them as a superset this time though. Trap bar pulls with pauses for speed work again. So what was listed was to do 58-60% for 5x3 with 90 seconds rest. This was before I got the platform situation as this had been an option for last time but I wasn’t able to get it to work without a platform setup. I felt it would be a better setup for me with a car deadlift really (especially with a suit). So instructions were to take 5-7.5% off and add 10-12.5% in bands. I may have misread the part about the bands as I thought it was 10-15% as that has been the suggested for a lot of these band based exercises (and it was what was indicated for last time if I was to do it). Oh well. So monster minis were too light for 10% and I thought maybe light bands would be good and they were just under 15% at lockout so I went with them. Considering the amount of band tension, it made sense to do a set without the bands to warm up and then add them and do 90lbs jumps like I have been doing. These felt good and powerful albeit there was a lot of pressure being built on these holding and moving fast against the bands. I thought it was important to do these with pauses and against bands because of the sensation of a long pull with car deadlifts and having to get used to the increased weight of the strength curve on the lever. I feel I may have gone closer to 75 seconds rests on these. Took a bit to put stuff away (not as much as when I did the spaced out dumbbell method) and it was on to the next thing. Unilateral leg work. No hatfields at this time. Step ups back in the mix. My choice of bar but really the ssb is the best thing with what I have as far as being able to not worry about balance or shoulders. So plan with these was do 3x10 with 3 second eccentrics and keep it RPE 6-7. I wasn’t too sure how these would feel. Granted I’ve overloaded with the hatfields but sometimes coming back to a movement can be tricky. Box height was listed to be between 10-12” and I went with 11” as that was about what I could get with what I had safely. I wasn’t too sure how much the explosive step up and then subsequent slow eccentrics would fatigue me so I did err on the lighter side to start. First set was easy and I was a bit distracted with keeping track of my movement and the tempo/reps. I was better about that on the other sets (added weight) but still not perfect. Still visualizing stepping on a tough cardboard box to get the motion to click for me. Left side has a harder time than the right on these. Next up was single leg curls with bands. Same as it has been with 3x12-20 and explosive movement with full ROM. I had been successful with the light band last week getting 3x20 and felt that it was easy enough to go up to the next full band size. I was expecting a bit of kick back on this and aim was 3x12 but things felt good and I was able to get 3x20 on these. It was a good bit tougher to do by the last set so I feel I will stick to this tension for next session as well before moving up again. Last thing was ab wheels. Not sure why I did this to myself last time and now Drew has me doing them with bands and pauses lol. These are always so deceptive to me as the first set is fine but then the following sets the effort is excruciating. Thankfully these were for lower reps. First set was easy to get 8 reps and then it was a challenge to get the others. I was allowed the range of 5-8 but once I did first two sets for 8, I felt I had to get it for 3x8. Put stuff away and cooked up dinner. Stretched and iced my knees and wrapped my left arm before bed.