February 20, 2023 – Week 18, Day 1

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Jerks
40x2/2
60x2/2
80x1/1
100x1/1
Left Side
115x1
130x1
145x1
160x1
172x4
155x2+2 (30 second clusters)
Right Side
110x1
120x1
130x0,1 (misgrooved and redid it)
140x1
147x4 (misgrooved a rep twice)
132x2+2 (30 second clusters)

Behind the Neck Strict Presses
45x2
65x2
85x2
105x2
125x2
145x2
165x6

Paused Band Assisted Pull Ups (1 second, pin 24)
sb+abx3
sbx3
abx3
lbx10

Band Triceps Extensions
lb’sx20
lb’sx20

Paused Underhand Band Pullaparts (2 seconds)/Band Shoulder Extensions
mbx20/µb’sx15

Stretching
 
Comments: I wasn’t feeling great mentally. It is good that this was a holiday weekend. I think maybe because it was that it kind of gave me the opportunity to really assess things and decompress. Saturday I ended up taking 3 ibuprofen when I got home and then 4 more before bed. I’m not entirely sure what the issue is but it feels like hip/groin/back. Sunday I slept in and tried different stuff to see if that helped or not and research. I think what makes it a bit difficult is that most muscle charts are showing just the superficial muscles and I can’t tell if it is that or deeper. And if something I did the day before was the cause or if it something from 3 weeks ago. I did an ACE bandage around my thigh and that seemed to sometimes help. Stuff is tight on that side. I ended up not doing anything outside the house. Walking usually feels good for the lower back and what not but I wanted to just rest. And also with things feeling off, I was feeling a little down as well. So again, thankful I had off work to let myself have time to process things. I didn’t want to get out of bed today really. I was anxious about training. The what-ifs. As the training cycles progress and weights get heavier and I get aches and such, I get flashes of visions of my muscles just exploding off my body. Like my adductors and biceps on stones. Not helpful. This week was pretty much having the last heavy touches for the show. Stones Saturday and that was that. This was to be circus dumbbell. The good was that my biceps weren’t feeling nearly as sore compared to last time I was to go heavy here. In the low 60’s for temperature today when it was below freezing Friday evening into Saturday afternoon. Ended up doing some spinal decompression on the dip stand before training. Goal was to work up to 95% of contest and hit the goal reps and then drop down 10% and match those reps in clusters. I was initially confused exactly what was being asked but figured out that intent was to mimic contest conditions for the top set (60-75 seconds) so pace things and not miss reps and then do double the reps with the down set being at lower percentage. Hope was that things would hold up here. ACE bandage around the thigh. Right side was feeling like garbage from the start but left side was feeling pretty crisp. I kind of realized that I shouldn’t be trying to match the feel of the big dumbbell on every set as not practical and best to just warm up as what feels best and gets things going. So I did the solid dumbbell to start things off and then switched to the plate loaded. There did seem to be some hesitancy as I got up in weight and wasn’t a fan of that. Occasionally catching one of the neighborhood children spying on me lifting through the bush wall. I was super nervous for the top set. Most weight I’ve done since fracturing the elbow in 2021 is 170lbs and a close miss at 177lbs. I went with 172lbs because it was slightly more and it was the weight of the Inch Dumbbell. I had been visualizing these since Friday night to distract myself from worrying about my whatever it is going into stones Saturday. The clean is the limiting factor for me on these at the moment as far as fatigue. I felt that the stiff section in the lower back and glute on the left has hampering me a little with getting power and hip drive up to shoulders so it was feeling like a bit more upper body. The jerks were feeling great. Pacing slow to allow recovery for my lower back and biceps rather than the overhead portion. 4 reps was good. What I wanted really. Best I’ve done is 180x4 since the 2016 PR reboot in training. Drop 10% for 4 more reps. I decided depending on how the first rep felt would dictate if I was doing doubles or singles. If doubles, I’d try and do them where they touch the shoulder and I reclean without touching the ground and rest about 30 seconds but if singles, then 15 seconds rest. It felt easy and I did doubles. It was feeling easy enough to do them all in one set. Then it was time to work back up for the right side. Right side didn’t want to cooperate today. It felt and awful lot like that time when I hit a wall on the dumbbell doing too many heavy sessions in a row. But not as bad as wrist pain wasn’t holding me back. But I did miss the lockout on 130lbs and had to retake it. With how things were feeling, I decided to lower the planned weight. Gap seems to be widening as I’m utilizing the jerks. Lockouts were tough the first two reps with the top weight and then the third I didn’t get it up high enough to press out and reattempted but no dice. Ugh, I was feeling beat. I then decided I’d not try and fight the way my shoulder wants to go on here and use a more inefficient form and that seemed to work for me (more to the side rather on the upper back). I may need to just use different form for both sides. Down set not limiting myself to one style helped, I think. As long as that side is ready to do the lighter dumbbell, I’m ok. On a whim, I decided I’d just weigh things to see what it actually was (as I know some plates are off). I wasn’t expecting it to be just shy of 177lbs. This is why I don’t weigh stuff as no clue which are the heavier ones and what might be slightly off. It took a bit but I think I’m where I need to be for the dumbbell come contest time as far as being in my 2017 shape just about. With the dumbbell done, it was time for the less stressful stuff for the workout. Next was behind the neck pressing. Work up in doubles to a top weight of 6-8 reps with 2RIR. Seeing how things felt last time, I felt that 165lbs was probably where I should stick. Those last time were tough and those were definitely not with much RIR left if any. I had a lot of 10’s out for the dumbbell so I just went with 20lbs jumps and I think that worked better than doing 30lbs jumps like last time. Get some more reps in, especially since no accentuated eccentrics. Been doing these beltless for the time being as I don’t feel that I’m strong enough really in this movement to really be needing them yet really. I need to get my shoulders up to par in this position. Also something new compared to pressing from the front. Would’ve liked these to have felt easier but I’ll take it. Biceps and forearms really sore from dumbbell and stones so I knew that pull ups with band assistance would probably suffer. Expectation was the same as last time with being one top set to 1RIR with 1 second pauses. I knew I’d need a little more easing in here with the sets. So that was an extra set. These felt harder this time around but managed to match the reps from last time just barely. Rest of the workout was easy band stuff. Triceps extensions with bands (the not lying down kind) with it to be low RPE for 2x12-20. I’ve used more band tension before but felt that I needed to lower it to focus on bracing with the wonky whatever tensing up and to try and find something that feels like working and less fighting against the tension to brace and move. Light bands held like a rope attachment handle seemed to work out here. Might have gone a little higher on the RPE than suggested but I was feeling good here. Last thing was a super set of stuff for shoulder health. Band pullaparts with pauses underhand grip aren’t new. Shoulder extensions were though. I’ve actually just done these at times when my shoulders were tight after a press day with no weight so using bands was different. A nice light touch to end the session. Put stuff away and had protein shake before stretching.