April 1, 2023 – Week 3, Day 4

Bulgarian Split Squats with Rotation
bwx10/10
9’sx10/10

Power Step Ups
bwx3/3 to 12”
bwx3/3 to 12”
bwx5/5 to 16”
bwx5/5 to 16”
bwx5/5 to 16”

Frame Carries
Titan Fitness (16”)
Casual Pace
115x50’
115x50’
Makeshift (18”)
Normal
276x50’
376x25’
476x25’
BiggDogg Strongg (20”, 1.5” handles)
568x25’
650x50’ in 9.94 seconds
650x50’ in 9.70 seconds
650x50’ in 8.84 seconds
650x50’ in 8.65 seconds
568x25’

Atlas Stone to Shoulders
145x1
180x1
205x1
235x1
265x3
235x3
235x3
235x3

Deadlift Grip Barbell GHD Back Extensions (1 second holds, Vera Gripps)
80x12
85x12

Standing Band GHD Abs/Single Leg Donkey Calf Raises
(2)abx15 – bwx15/15
(2)ab+(2)lbx15 – 25x13/13

Stretching
 
Comments: The week had been feeling pretty good as far as training and getting the physical situation over with. But awoke Friday to really bad allergies. I had been not taking the stuff I had been taking daily to I guess give myself a break as I might have been overly reliant and I know that it can potentially elevate stuff. I knew I wasn’t “sick” but that I wasn’t going to feel great and usually what I need is to get a good night’s rest. But loaded up on the allergy meds (as well as Dayquil and Nyquil) and made myself go for a walk after work as well as do soft tissue work, even though I was feeling tired. I felt I needed to do stuff to make sure that I went to bed at a reasonable hour. That did the trick and I felt fine and rested the next day. I did sleep in an hour but that was partly to get more sleep by also because I didn’t want to be out to train too early due to the passing storms. Gambling on that it will be rainy when I get there but it would pass by the time I needed to go outside. The potential to not have other people there when I showed up was a risk I was willing to take. But as luck would have it, there were a lot of people there today. Again, people training for the next strongman show hosted at the gym on 4/22/23. Start of workout was Bulgarian split squats with rotation of back leg. Just 2x10 as was the case two weeks ago. I decided that it was a good idea to do some mobility things for the knees and hips just before doing these so that perhaps not as rough. That seemed to be a good idea as these didn’t feel as bad as they usually do at the start. Could also be that the hip flexor issue is starting to finally heal up. But on a whim, I decided to add weight on the second set. And that seemed fine enough. Granted it was a very light weight. Still getting twinges in the left leg hip flexor but the least it has been something since this became an issue like 2 months ago. The power step ups were next. I did some “prep” before this as well like hopping on one foot to the other to kind of get used to moving my body like that and did two sets with the lower box height as well. Getting more comfortable with these. A plan this cycle does seem to be working on getting some power into my stride. I see what the ideas are with the different exercises toward the finished product for things like the viking press, frame carry and stone to shoulder (deadlift pretty basic really and the other two events will get added in). So it does appear that I got the weather guess correct as not only did it stop raining but it was sunny out so the rainwater was evaporating so only the places with divots had standing water rather than the entire place being slick. Because it was time for frame carry.  Same warming up with empty Titan Fitness frame for casual walks and then the makeshift wobbly frame with thin handles to get use to weight and picking up speed. Moving with the warming up frames felt good. Pick with the last “warm up” on the makeshift frame still feels awful. I was more or less going to judge how the actual frame felt moving it out to determine what I was doing. Plan was same as last time with RPE 6-7 with 4x50’ and 2 minute rest. So try to add weight and keep it feeling the same as last time. I was thinking 640-650lbs for 20-30lbs jump. I think there was some hesitancy with weight even though I felt ok last week. I’ve picked up and held 730lbs on this frame for like 40 seconds but as far as actually moving with it without straps, I’ve not done more than 620lbs with it. But I guess in the positives was that I tend to get better with familiarization on carry events as I peak. So with the empty frame not feeling terrible moving out, I went with the 30lbs jump. The first set, I forgot how it worked. By that I mean I forgot that gripping back tilted forward and gripping forward tilted back. I had meant to tilt it back but made it tilt forward. Still, it was faster than my slowest time from last time with 30lbs more weight. Second set I gripped it right but I think the start I was a little offset with the balance but it was slightly faster. Ok, I think I got it figured out. Third set I was good and I got it under 9 seconds. But I knew that I could go faster. Last set it all came together. Every run was faster than the previous. This actually matched my time with 580lbs on this from near the beginning of training for PA Dutch for 2022. Also only about half a second slower than my best time with this weight with straps. So this is a good sign. I think the high of the runs left me quick as putting away the empty frame had it feeling the heaviest it felt all day. Stone to shoulder was up next. Second time doing it haha. So plan this time was reps. This does seem to be a rather explosive movement and that power needed isn’t infinite. So do singles up to a top weight that I felt I could do 2-3 reps at with enough RIR to say RPE 7-7.5. My aim here was the 265lbs stone again. Granted if I was stuck at 235lbs, I’d still have appropriate stones weights for the planned down set work with 85-90%. I think I felt I needed to for it to be “worthwhile” as it was a 20” stone and the one that was the really dusty as far as not having tacky on it. Better to prepare for the contest conditions. I was somewhat leery about this as I’m not 100% certain that it didn’t have things feeling funky for my left shoulder after the last session. Again, that could be partly that as well as just being right after the competition where I had pushed things on the dumbbell pressing. I do think I’m getting more comfortable with this movement. It is similar but different from sandbag shouldering. It doesn’t just sit there and getting it to a certain spot will allow for it to still be rolled and pushed into place. But the balance required is a lot more. The bruising pattern is different afterwards. Also finding that using my head/neck to actively brace may be needed as well to keep the stone stabilized. I paced myself with the top set and only annoyed with the last rep as that did go over my shoulder. I had been fiddling with my headgear as the neck strap had come undone and my hair was getting in the way of the Velcro. But I guess the good news is that I’m getting better here where the last bit isn’t feeling that difficult. Down set the options were to do 4x2 or 2-3x3 at 85-90%. So 235lbs fit the bill. If I had done a double, I’d have done doubles but I felt that triples were better to deal with that feeling of fatigue factor and get used to it. So I tried to go at a faster pace here. I picked up the speed for the second set and then went even faster on the last set but also did slight holds too. I’m wondering if I should have that as something to make sure I don’t have an issue with judging. And that was it for the event work. Back extensions on the GHD with a barbell. As has been the case the past two weeks. I did look to see if the gym still had the roman chair like I did now at home but I guess it is gone. Oh well. These on the GHD hit stuff harder anyways. This was to be the lighter week of 2x10-12 with 1ct holds. With how last time went, I knew that I didn’t really need to do a warm up as these can be quite challenging as is. These actually went quite well. I was expecting these to be tougher but ended up feeling pretty good and ended up adding a little weight on the second set. From there it was time to finish up the session with super set of abdominals and single leg calf work. I did want to try and change up the calf exercise as it does seem like they aren’t as “strong” as they can be when done with other exercises beforehand. I was planning on doing a standing variation as my left leg was feeling fine but I ended up changing things as my right wasn’t. The banded ab work with the GHD unfortunately felt too easy the first set. It had felt pretty tough last time. Also saw that I needed to anchor things as I was moving it. I added weight and more bands and it was back in the right effort range. Also feeling some tension in the hip flexors. As far as the calf work, I switched to doing a donkey calf raise and that seemed to be ok. I felt that since I increased the band tension for the abdominals for the second set, I should do the same for the calf raises. Left side had no problems, the right was the struggling one. Things weren’t too bad as far timeliness with finishing up the workout. I took inventory of the stones that would be within “working” range as far as the stone to shoulder and weighed the sandbags for tossing in prep for those being in my training. Stretched out and had protein shake before driving home (I wanted to make it home before the high wind advisory). A good training session.