March 25, 2023 – Week 2, Day 4

Bulgarian Split Squats with Rotation
bwx10/10

Hatfield Split Squats
65x5/5
115x5/5
155x5/5
205x5/5
250x12/12
250x12/12

Pin Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings w/ bands (+24lbs/+58lbs, 33” height, swiss ball)
65x3
125x3
155x3
205x3
205x3
205x3
205x3
205x3

Deadlift Grip Barbell Back Extensions (2 second holds, Vera Gripps)
65x3
105x6
105x6
105x6

Standing Band Abs/Single Leg Calf Raises
(2)abx15 – bwx16/16
(2)abx15 – bwx16/16

Stretching
 
Comments: I guess I kind of needed the day to be like this. I had been getting extra stress with the lab results (I got calls every day besides Friday) so those stopping and kind of realizing that most likely this has been an issue that wasn’t caught and just have to see what is up at the appointment. With the gym closed for the weekend essentially (not opening until after 6PM Sunday), I was going to have to do the workout at home. Which thankfully, I was able to do with very minor changes (I bought gym equipment last week that arrived before this workout). I had spent Friday after work finishing putting together the one piece as well as getting in the soft tissue work. Left shoulder/trap/neck is achy. There was no rush to get up and do stuff really so I allowed myself to sleep-in (which I hadn’t been able to do at all last weekend). And I’ve not really felt like I could sleep for a long while lately even when I wanted to as I felt like I needed to get up. Well I needed it as I slept until 1PM (granted I didn’t really get myself to go to bed until 1AM). Rainy off and on but nothing in the workout really required me to be outside. Just some setups might be better with the rack outside vs the one I have in the garage. Start of workout was Bulgarian split squats with rotation of back leg. Only 1x10 this time. There is indication to do RPE 5 as warm up and I could add weight but I’m not going to. My bodyweight seems sufficient for these with how rough usually these feel at the start of a workout session. And especially since whatever with the left hip flexor thing. But I guess feeling less like garbage. Still getting twinges in the left leg hip flexor on these but to the best of my knowledge, probably the best it has felt since this became and issue. A twist on something I’ve done was up next here. As I mentioned, it seems like not pushing a heavy squat on a separate day at this point and focus seems to be on stuff that works the legs but doesn’t stress the lower back. I think that the indication that these were to be helping with moving events has me changing up footwear so that I’m wearing what I’d wear for moving events. The exercise was listed as a hatfield reverse lunge. But that was really only for the first rep as I was to just stay in the groove for the reps so it was more a reverse lunge to initiate a set of split squats. I was a tad nervous about these as I was worried the split stance nature would stress the hip flexor. I’ve done lunges and split squats but I don’t think I’ve ever really done reverse lunges with anything besides an empty barbell what feels like a decade ago. I should also mention I was to use some sort of cushion for the back leg knee that was 2-4”. So I used a couch cushion. I felt a flood of relief over my body when I did that first rep and there was no hint of any kind of discomfort in the hip flexor. Plan here was to work up in sets of 3-5 reps and do 2x12 at RPE 6. I ended up doing 40-50lbs jumps and did 5 rep sets to get warm. Before I started, I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do much here but after those first few sets I knew I could probably do at least 245lbs here and be good. It was more of a fatigue factor I think. Which ended up not being that bad. Left side was having a harder time than my right with these. The weight on the upper back and shoulders did tend to make the aches in the shoulder more noticeable. But I’ve had that even when shoulder wasn’t feel temperamental. Second set actually felt better (though there was fatigue with the left leg standing back up). It will be interesting to see how these will progress. I know that the ceiling for these can be quite high as I’ve seen these done by throwing athletes and they’ve worked up to some quite staggering weights. I’m fine if these replace squats so I can work the legs and keep hitting deadlifts. But that isn’t really up to me. It is what is needed to put out the best performance when it counts/matters. Next thing was something I did at the very end of the last training cycle as a way to work stones when the hip was acting up. And that was banded zercher goodmornings off of pins with the safety squat bar. My coach seems to be thinking these are good tool to use as opposed to getting stuff set up for stones every week. I think these are fine rather than doing stones every week as I tend to like not doing stones every week anyways. I had a setup at the gym but obviously can’t do that at home. So I needed to set something up. I wasn’t sure if my racks would be the best option since they aren’t bolted down and the one in the garage tends to “sink” with more weight. But luckily I still had sawhorses and at the max height they were only like 1” lower than what I did at the gym. The other thing was the band setup. No band pegs so needed to use something else. Micro bands doubled worked out here. More tension at the bottom but not as much at the top compared to what I had at the gym. Anyways, the plan here was 5x3 with somewhat short rests and move these explosively. The thing I added to this was the addition of an exercise ball that I hold so it feels more “stone like”. I’ve done more weight on these but I felt the goal was more effort related and being really explosive (enough that I could attempt triple extension with my ankles). So I went with 205lbs here which really is still good as it is close to the weight of the stone I worked up to shouldering with the band tension. These felt nice. I wish I could say that was it for the odd setups for the workout but nope. Next was those back extensions that I’m to be doing. The ones with holds and a short ROM. This was going to be tricky. I didn’t have a back extension/hyper bench/roman chair until a few days ago. And I got one that was like $80 and said not to exceed 300lbs. So kind of close to that. I had to weigh down the back end with 140lbs of dumbbells. Felt wobbly but it held up. So this was to be the heavier week. 3x6 with 2 second holds as opposed to the 1 second holds and higher reps last week. The plus for this setup was that the handles on the side of this bench didn’t stick out so there wasn’t an issue with the bar getting stuck. The negatives being that this wasn’t as high off the ground as the setup at the gym and there was the potential fear of it collapsing at any moment. These are definitely a needed exercise for me I think as these hit the lower back quite good and I’m noticing that unlike some exercise I do for multiple sets where I feel like I’m getting warmed or better as I go, these I’m obviously feeling that there is fatigue and the reps and sets get harder as I go. I have no feeling of “adding weight” each set like sometimes I do.  From there it was time to finish up the session with super set of abdominals and single leg calf work. I had already planned on doing standing calf raises this time around as it was the easiest to setup and I knew the setup at my house is a bit more user friendly for me as I can use my dip stand to assist as needed due to fatigue. The abdominal part was going to be a bit tougher to troubleshoot. I wanted to still have something that I was to have arching over so it took some trial and error to bungee cord my ssb to the rack arms and then setup bands. I probably could’ve done more band tension but I think with the angle of the pull I’d be lifted up rather than pulled back. Calf work was definitely challenging after the other work but it at least felt better then when I attempted to do them last week before going with an easier variation. I’ll need to think on if I want to alternate setups for both the calves and the back extensions. I think it will depend on how the setup of the exercises is one week vs the other with the split as it might make sense to do one week at the gym and one at home. I forgot to move the camera setup after the first set and didn’t get the second set of the abs. Put stuff away and had to kind of figure out the evening. Got a protein shake and then stretched. I had planned to do a DoorDash meal as stuff I had was still thawing and the app was down so I had to venture out and get food at the Chipotle that usually is out of food (one time I went and it had a sign that said “only have chips and salsa”). This time they only didn’t have vegetables but the people only rung me up for chicken burritos when I had gotten two of them steak (I told them and they didn’t care) so I saved a little money haha. Iced knees before bed.