June 3, 2023 – Week 12, Day 4

Bulgarian Split Squats with Rotation
bwx5/5
26.5’sx10/10

Sandbag Tosses
(10’ away)
30x1
30x1
35x1
40x1
(no run out)
45x1
50x1
55x1
60x1
(10’ away)
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x1/50x1 (didn’t clear marker)
30x1/35x1/40x1/45x1/50x1

Pin Safety Squat Bar Zercher Goodmornings w/ bands (+28lbs/+93lbs, 33” height, swiss ball)
75x3
125x3
175x3
225x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

Hercules Holds
230x5 seconds
280x5 seconds
320x33.30 seconds PR+14.10 seconds
280x30.87 seconds
280x33.33 seconds

GHD Back Extensions (bearhug)
50x3
100x3
150x3
175x12

Band Assisted Sissy Squats/Band TKEs
abx15 – (2)lbx15/15
abx15 – (2)lbx20/20

Stretching
 
Comments: Friday kind of sucked. Not that there were issues at work or the doctor’s office. I guess either allergies were really bad or also coupled with stress but I felt under the weather waking up and for most of the day. Not ideal when it is 94 degrees. I decided to wait until after work to do any walking and see if meds helped. Ended up taking allergy meds during the morning and after lunch I was feeling a bit better. Drinking a lot of water. Thing was that I knew I needed to get up early for training because of a few reasons so I needed to make sure that I was rested and went to bed when I went to bed. Left some items to be taken care of in the morning. No soft tissue work (walk will have to suffice). Nyquil before bed just to make sure. I did wake up feeling better thankfully. I had to be up early for two reasons. One was that there was planned construction right near the exit I had to take to get on the main highway to the gym. I’d rather not have to pay toll routes to get there so that added about 10 minutes (I was expecting more so thankful for that). The other was that plan was to do Hercules hold and that requires at minimum 2 competent people. And more likely for that to be there early or very late. But very late is never a guarantee. Despite the temperature dropping like 15 degrees from the day before, it felt just as hot. The gym had extra fans running today. I brought in a new toss bag (on sale Memorial Day) and loaded that up to 60lbs. So now have 30-60lbs in 5lbs jumps plus 2 5lbs bags to add (the 3rd bag is missing now, not sure who/what would take that). Start of workout was Bulgarian split squats with rotation of back leg. Single set of 10 reps for this week. I’ve been doing kettlebell weighed stuff for knees over toes and those have seemed to help have things feel better when it comes time to actually do stuff like squats and split squats. I did decide to add a little more to that by doing stretches in the Cossack squat position as it does seem that knees and hip/hamstring tightness are tied together. One side definitely tighter than the other (as I suspected). That might be something to keep in the mobility warming up as the split squats felt really good and usually that first set with bodyweight feels like crap. So I went up in weight on the kettlebells to the next size up and it went well. Then it was time for sandbag. Work up in singles and do a 2 runs of the 5 bag series at the show with 85-90% of contest weight. I had felt like crap last time I attempted to do this two weeks prior. I had perhaps overdid it with doing singles with the 50lbs bag. But last week I seemed to start get things clicking again and managed to get the 55lbs bag over the band target after all the singles with lighter bags (and I had not been able to get it previously). I also had the new 60lbs bag. So my thinking again was warm up and see if I can get overload and come back down to do 30-50lbs for the runs. Suggested was to only do the first bag potentially as a hop back (even though I can do up to 40lbs successfully that way) since that would be the only bag I’d actually do that with in the series at this point. So I did one rep hop back and one walk back. I’m trying out different things with the walk back depending on how things feel. Trying to be efficient in my motions but also in saving energy. So kind of holding the bag out in front and using the backpedal motion and then dropping the bag as a way to get the swing momentum down so I don’t have to do a second swing on some bags. Did 10’ out up to the 40lbs bag and then went with the bag right where I want them to toss for the rest of my singles. I had some issues here. Mistimed release on the 45lbs and the 50lbs. 55lbs I got the height but my arc was off so landed right behind me. I didn’t treat that as a failure to retry and got the 60lbs bag out. My thinking being if I have the reserve strength for clearing 60lbs, I will have a better shot with the 50lbs and so on. Because it isn’t just a strength thing, it is the fast twitch over the course of the series. I can clear 15’ with a 50lbs bag but I couldn’t even hit at bad set at 13’8” with the top of the bag last time I did a series run. So time to try 60lbs (most I’ve attempted in training but gave it an honest shot in competition in 2021). I hit the back of the toss tower on the back swing and got the arc a bit better compared to 55lbs. But it landed on the band. And it stayed there. I was very surprised the band didn’t snap. Now according to the rules at both Regionals and Nationals, this would count as a good toss. But I wanted it to fall over. So I tried shoving it and it was good and stuck despite a few attempts. So I had to get a pole from a prowler to knock it over. Just a ridiculous thing haha. So then I rested and got things setup for the series attempts. Seeing as I wasn’t anywhere close last time, I went with the same weights since I was to try it twice this time. I had Andrew help with commands and filming so that I could see the full movement since I tend to have limited view when filming with camera stationary in the alleyway. First run through was ok up until the last bag. I did hop back first bag and did the backpedal for the second and third and then just walked it back with the last one and tossed it back on the last one to the where I wanted it. Need to utilize all these methods I think. I did hit the band this time around on the 50lbs so that is progress there. Second run I had some issues. My glasses came off and then my doo rag came off. The hair in the ponytail does seem to keep things out of my way. I’ll probably need to do this without my glasses and doo rag at the show. Those only slowed me down slightly and had my trajectory off on the 3rd bag only. Time for the last bag and I got more height on it this time and it landed on top of the band. Someone told me since I did it twice I should play the lottery. It didn’t stay up there this time and came back around like a Ferris wheel and just ejected it at me. I realized I had more time so I did turn around but noticed the band was gone. It apparently got launched into low orbit. It landed on top, I’m counting it haha. Had to get some help to bring the tower down and affix a new band to it. Not entirely sure how the last few sessions will play out here for this. Next up was the banded zercher goodmornings off of pins with the safety squat bar. Well, not right away. I had taken too long I guess doing sandbag and tearing down that someone was using the only ssb in the gym. I was a little annoyed because there were very few people in the gym and I only trusted one of them to be able to handle assistance on Hercules hold. So I wasn’t sure if I should move on to that or wait this out. I did get the Hercules hold setup with where I wanted to start it. The person finally finished up and I was able to get things ready for the zercher stuff. Plan was the same band tension as last time and increase the weight by 10-15lbs for the 5x3. I did 50lbs jumps here. These are getting tough. Definitely feeling that passing out sensation on these at times. But despite how rough they feel at the start, I feel better as I do them. I know these are helping with building up a good bit of reserve strength for the stone to shoulder for the lap to shoulder. I mean, just over contest weight at the start and close to 70lbs over at the top. Really lets me be stable and work on triple extension as well. I’ve only had one time where the size of this new swiss ball and the sweat was an issue and that was the very first session (note: I did locate the smaller swiss ball but not going back haha). Then it was time for Hercules hold. This was the day. This is one of my best events with seated arm over arm. Never placed lower than 2nd place on it. Plan was this likely the one touch on it with potentially doing another next week if I felt it was needed. It is a pain to setup and get assistance with to do it safely. But I do stress that I’m not doing all the events for a show. But this is one that I’ve learned doesn’t really need it for me to be good. All the indicators were vastly improved from last time I did this style (IE no hook grip). The plan was to do three working sets. It was up to me how I wanted to do that. Either work up for sets of 15-30 seconds with increasing weight or to do a top set of 30-45 seconds and then back off 10-15% for 2 matching time sets. My thinking with just how I seem to operate is top set and back offs. I tend to have issues with recovery after a top set on grip stuff, even if I don’t feel it is too taxing. This would probably be the best way to get the work in. My goal was to do 320lbs and then back off sets of 280lbs. I knew from experience that the 320lbs was more slightly more than the contest weight in hand at Regionals on that setup (same weight as last year). I had done 19.20 seconds at this weight in training and did 38.34 seconds at the show. So it was a big ask I think to get 30 seconds at this weight. But if I did, it would be a big indicator. Warming up didn’t feel that good honestly. It was more just getting used to the sensation. I had smashed two fingers last Saturday on the left hand and the right side I got a splinter from the toss tower and pulling that out had my hand bleed a little. And that was also the side where I got blood drawn and I have a bruise the size of a smartphone there (more medical professional annoyances). I could feel some tension in the right forearm on the first warm up set but wasn’t present after that. The zercher stuff probably didn’t help that. But plan was to do two “events” beforehand since this will likely be the last event of Day 1 for the show. Hand offs have improved dramatically with the number system as opposed to the take the strain method. I felt solid and only stopped after I knew I was past 30 seconds. I could’ve held on for a bit more. I’m noticing with the heavier weights that there is more shoulder tension and upper back required to keep from losing the weight early. So fatigue can set in there. Big PR here. I think the hook grip stuff from the previous cycle did help with getting the other structures ready for the duration and strain for the forearms and the shoulders. Down sets as expected were a bit tougher. I counted to 35 in my head and even then my counting wasn’t quite right as I was a little shy of what the time was the first set but corrected the second set. I don’t think I need to do another of these for the show here. Back extensions after that. Again, just one top set bear hug style. Same as last time but indication was try to get it to be 10-12 reps with 1RIR. Warm up in sets of 3 reps. Plan was 50lbs jumps just because. I felt good but not good enough to try 205lbs (I didn’t think the 175lbs with a 25lbs on it would be a good fit). Maybe I should’ve tried it as once I got things situated, it felt pretty darn good and I definitely had more than 1RIR on these. And that was doing these a bit more controlled than I did them last time. I think last time for these this cycle. Last thing was optional it seems. For knee health. The plan was to do 2 sets of FFE reverse lunges. Fully planned to do that but my knees just said no. More so the back leg then the front leg really. Just not wanting to do that ROM. Even with bodyweight. The notes did indicate to do my choice of knee stuff with potential unilateral work or skip. So I figured that band assisted sissy squats would be the ticket. I attempted to do a split stance or single leg variation but not happening. So lowered the assistance and did with both legs. But I felt that wasn’t enough so superseded with band TKEs and did those in a split stance. I know my knees are touchy on the best day for some things. But keep on going. I accidentally did more reps the second set on the TKEs. I think I got distracted with attempting to stay on the balls of my feet on the second set of the sissy squats. Stretched before driving home. Thankfully no traffic issues with construction on the way back.