March 20, 2023 – Week 2, Day 1

Bottom Up Kettlebell Presses/Dumbbell Pullovers (3 seconds stretch)/Cobra Stretches (5/15)
10’sx10/10x10/bwx3
10’sx10/10x10/bwx3

Viking Presses (strict, facing away)
empty(26)x3
+45(55)x3
+90(84)x3
+135(113)x3
+180(142)x3
+225(171)x3
+255(190.5)x2
+225(171)x8
+202.5(156.5)x8
+202.5(156.5)x8

Feet Elevated Pull Ups (swiss bar, 2 second holds)
bwx3
bwx8
bwx8
bwx9 (miscounted)

DeFranco Band Pullaparts (30 seconds)
mbx11
mbx13

Kettlebell Tibialis Anterior Raises (3 second holds)/Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (3 second eccentrics)
30x10/10 – mmbx20/20
30x10/10 – mmbx20/20

Stretching
 
Comments: Weather has been up and down. Below freezing when I wake up and then normal Spring weather by the end of the day. Still feeling the workout session from Saturday. The interesting sensations are that my forearms where they insert at the elbows on the inner side are sore from the no tacky stone lifting. I know from past experience that sometimes I can get tendonitis from doing too much. But I think the rotation plan here will keep that from being an issue. This was going to be an interesting session. The first part of that being because I had to get up early to do fasted blood work and that had kind of altered my weekend hours to be ready for that. Thankfully it was quick and uneventful (a bit gun shy after the last time a needle was in my arm). The other part of that was testing out a piece of equipment. Starting things off was a circuit of exercises that I feel was geared toward activation/mobility specifically for viking press (which is the main thing and the pressing event for the contest). I had numbers set here but adjusted them after seeing how sore some stuff was from Saturday (namely shoulder on left side, lats and upper back). The circuit was to do bottom up kettlebell presses (with serratus emphasis) into pull overs (hold in stretch and attempting to reach back) and then cobra pose/stretch. The pressing was easy and I probably could’ve gone with my 15’s instead of the 10’s. But I was testing things and trying to have things feel about equal. I only used 10lbs on the pullovers and that seemed sufficiently challenging. I was looking at 40lbs and I’m kind of glad I didn’t. Cobra pose was interesting. I think I did these right. It indicated to do 5ct hip flexor and then 15 seconds flexing glutes into stretch. I’m not sure if I got that first part right but I did the second part. Those two parts of the circuit were a good bit tougher than the pressing. So those will stay and up the press next time I guess so it feels a bit more even. And then it was time to do the thing that needed to be done. Viking press. I’ve done viking press before but the contest is going to be facing away. The setup I have used is good for facing the weight but not for facing away. Not enough clearance. I could do a setup at the strongman gym but that is only on the weekend and that is generally not a pressing session. It was not exactly good finding a handle attachment that was someplace that actually had a storefront (seemed to be private messages situation) so asked my dad if we felt he could make one after seeing one that someone made out of wood and pipes and he said sure and now I have this monstrosity to use. It is like 8’ long in total and uses both my yokes to setup. I had done some testing with it the week of the contest to setup and see if it worked. And get some data. There is flex in the handles. 26lbs empty in hand and roughly 64.5% of whatever weight is added goes to weight in hand. I had some idea of what to expect I guess from doing viking pressing. But that kind of got thrown out the window after the first set with weight added. Plan was strict pressing working up in triples with plan to do a top set of 5-8 reps with 2-3RIR and then take off 10% for 2 sets of similar reps. My left shoulder and pretty much everything from my arm pit to biceps was feeling tense and sore. I was keeping an eye on that situation. I figure this is probably a combination of the stone to shoulder, frame carry, and maybe the deadlift grip hypers (lats tucked). The weight felt a ton heavier than what the formula/math said. I’m thinking that maybe that is because unlike with say a press from the front or on my back that the shoulders have to support it fully. I can get some additional support on the front grip style with leaning into it and getting some weight on my clavicles. I was also testing wearing just regular shoes rather than lifters. My plan had been to use 250-270lbs added for that top set but I felt that was probably too much after doing 225lbs but I pushed forward thinking that adding wrist wraps and elbow sleeves would make the difference. It did not. Wearing the elbow sleeves to get used to it with the feeling of compression and make sure it doesn’t affect the movement. I figured it wouldn’t as it seemed to be fine with log press when training for PA Dutch last year. I stopped at 2 reps as I heard something creak going for the third and I wanted to make sure everything was safe and I also felt that 5 reps would be likely 0-1RIR at best. Checked video and integrity of the setup and seemed fine. Went back down to 225lbs added (which is only 171lbs in hand) and it felt tough but I felt like I kept having reps in me despite if feeling heavy on my shoulders. I was definitely more upright at the start and was playing around with the thoracic mobility and using the hips as far as getting more chest and seeing how that felt. Longer rests were allowed and did matching reps with 10% less. I feel that I was getting better at using the setup as I went. I’m not sure how doing things with a push press motion will feel, guess find that out next week. Besides this feeling a ton tougher than I was expecting it to, getting plates on and off is a bit of a hassle with how tall the setup is and the loading pin (I felt stacking rather on the side was safer). Maybe a step ladder? It was going to take a bit to put that stuff away so I decided to start on the next thing and take it down piece by piece over the course of the workout. Next thing was feel elevated pull ups. Use swiss bar since I got one instead of the gymnastic rings. 2 second holds. 3 sets of 6-8 reps at RPE 6. I wasn’t sure how these would feel with my left side feeling so I elected to do a triple with bodyweight. Holds tend to really sap what I can do on these kinds of exercises so I figured that it was best to play it safe this week and just use bodyweight to insure I was getting the reps and work done. I miscounted on the last set and did an extra rep. Maybe these felt good because there is some knurling on the handles? I was more focused on getting the “look up” aspect and making sure I was stretching out my lats and back on these. Went into the garage for the next thing. Timed band work. Similar to last week’s first upper body session. 2 sets of 30 seconds. Exercise this time was DeFranco pullaparts. I figured with the instructions that I wasn’t to be just going fast as possible but was to do these controlled, especially the pullapart part of it. I think I did these right as I was instructed back when I first did these to do a front raise into the pullapart. Thankfully didn’t bother things too much with the whatever for the left side. As has been the case so far, second set I got more reps in the time. Last thing was an unlikely superset; tibialis anterior raises and band triceps. The tib raises were with kettlebells and like they had been the past few times with 2-3ct holds. I just used 30lbs as it wasn’t to be really pushing the RPE here. I forgot how many reps I was to do the first set with the left side and stopped at 8 and then did 2 more reps. Have to say that left side on these fatigues faster. Right has an easier time with these. Triceps had a bit more leeway with the rep range and effort. 12-20 reps with 3 second eccentrics. Since I had been using monster minis last cycle, I stuck with them again here to see how that felt. I might alter how I grip the bands next time as it does seem to dig into my palm with the thinner bands and more tension but also there seemed to be more comfort or felt better gripping the band directly like when I was doing the extensions facing away from the rack. Put stuff away and ate pot roast before stretching. Hopefully the soreness in the left side calms down before the next lifting session.