August 5, 2023 – Week 6, Day 4

11” Floating Kabuki Trap Bar Deadlifts (Versa Gripps, 5-1-0-0 tempo)
115x3
175x3
225x3
285x2
335x2
395x2
445x6
400x6

Power Stairs (17”, taps)
214x2
269x2
324x2
324x2
324x2
324x2
324x2

Yoke
Casual
210x50’
Normal
300x50’
390x50’
480x50’
570x50’ in 8.62 seconds
570x50’ in 8.41 seconds
570x50’ in 8.17 seconds
570x50’ in 7.77 seconds

Belt Squat Romanian Deadlifts w/ MAG
220x3
270x10
270x10

Glute Ham Raise Holds
bwx45 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: For me, Friday was pretty uneventful. Not so much for two of my family members that had to deal with what has come to be common with the healthcare system; delays, inadequate care and failure to catch things when it would be less issue in the first place. But despite that seeming fact of circumstances, they both seem to be recovering now. Which is a load off my mind. I hadn’t exactly planned to go out to train as early as I did as I was thinking I probably needed to sleep in but I ended up waking to my alarm and not feeling that tired (probably helped that during my dream I thought my alarm went off late and quiet). Traffic wasn’t great so it did take longer. I realized I had missed one thing to adjust in the car but had to wait until I got where I was going to fix that. There was a lot of commotion at the stuff surrounding the gym. Bikers were there which I thought was odd as they were there last weekend too. Not sure what all the ruckus was for. Decent amount of people training at the gym. I got sucked into that a bit with people doing competition setups for upcoming shows. The advice I gave someone about how to treat a deadlift event a few weeks back lead to a 5-6 rep increase and they thanked me for that advice so I was bit encouraged to put my keen eye on things for others that were receptive. I like seeing people get these things to click. This workout didn’t look like a lot on paper but it apparently ended up taking a lot of time. First thing was trap bar stuff. The last of the tempo based stuff. Work up to a top set of 6-8 with 2RIR with the same style I was doing and then take off 10% and do a matching rep set and report back the RIR. I was initially thinking of 400lbs just based on how things were feeling. But I think I felt like I was selling myself short as each week when I got to the set I felt like I had a lot more RIR than I was expecting considering how the sets before were feeling. I decided, screw it, doing 445lbs (following the 50-60lbs jumps). I started with triples and moved to doubles. This was tough. I was definitely starting to feel this kind of weight with this control in the lower back similar to how things felt when I was going heavy with the suit pulls with trap bar during the PA Dutch training cycle. I was contemplating going for a seventh rep but I felt like my upper abs were going to cramp as I was finishing up the sixth rep so called it there. Aim had been to hit the lower rep range to get some idea of what I can handle here. I took a bit of break to get myself feeling ok for the down set. Unlike with some exercises, down sets on pulls after a heavy set tend to not feel super great. This felt more like how the previous weeks had felt with a decent amount of reps in the tank potentially. I got that upper ab feeling of a cramp coming but it did not so that was a good thing. From there it was on to power stairs. These are at Nationals and I’ve not actually done a show with this in it since 2010. I feel I’ve maybe done a workout after that point with this as an exercise once or twice but not for anything specific. Even when this was something, I think I trained it like once in training as the weights used at the time were relatively light (most was 400lbs) and the number of steps was minimal and usually part of a medley rather than its own thing. The only issue with the gym’s setup is that the steps are 1” shorter than what they will be for Nationals. This was to be just light work of 5x2 at RPE 5-6 (suggested was 65-70% of lightest implement). Not full loads on to the step but just kind of “taps” where I got it up there close enough (and know it would go) and pull it back down and go again. A way to work quick reset. Definitely something I’ll need the knee sleeves on to minimize bruising. The suggested weight felt like a joke to me so I went up in weight. That was bit more challenging but I think more initial jitters. That breaking the weight off the floor is the slow down for me as after that it moves quick and easy. I was tossing it around with disdain after that first set and I think just got a little too loose on the last set. I left things setup after this as my plan was to come back when I was done with the session to practice some transitions with getting down the steps. That was where I felt I’d have a slow down if I didn’t get that figured out. Yoke was up next. I was a bit surprised that this was going to be allowing a belt and shorter runs so soon after the no belt long distance stuff. I again deviated from the suggested. Though I guess this was actually listed and not suggested as far as weight. I was to be doing 500lbs for these runs. Comfortable rest and keep things smooth. I felt that I had been overly cautious with the yoke stuff last time and probably should’ve had 50-100lbs more on there. So I went heavier since I was allowed a belt. By the time I was ready to go, everyone but one person had left and I managed to have them stick around for about 10 minutes to get these done. I could tell I wasn’t moving the fastest I’ve done on yoke, even with this weight. But I was feeling comfortable with how my take off was going. I was encouraged when my time decreased for the second run and I could feel I was getting better as I went. When I got even smoother run for the third set, I felt like I could get under 8 seconds for the last run. Pleased with how well that last one went. Granted, I was about a second off my best time at this weight but I was feeling smooth with it. The last thing was up to me. Exercise of choice for the hamstrings. Experiment time. Drew wanted me to play around with stuff that would work with getting hamstrings and glutes conditioned for the stone carry and load even without it being that exercise. Recalling how it felt when I did heavy stones at Nationals as well as the times I’ve done the stone carry and load in competition (twice) I felt there was a specific sensation that I needed to hit and that would be best achieved with a bent leg style of lift. The fatigue would need to be where the hamstring and glutes tie in, not the hamstring and calf. My thinking was to do a rdl on the belt squat machine while holding a close neutral grip. This took a bit more work than I thought it would with getting things right. The cable was a lot longer than I remembered so I had to stand on boxes. The attachment I found was actually better than what I was thinking. I couldn’t fully lockout the weight because I was hitting the top of the belt squat but it was actually perfectly at the spot I wanted that to be at so I could get a little isometric against that point. This felt a good bit tougher than I was expecting. After I finished the first of two sets (plan was 2 sets of RPE 6-7) I thought about supersetting with a glute ham raise hold to really get that fatigue and sensation down but I felt I had taken too much rest by that point (I get good ideas when I’m walking) that I decided if I felt like it was still necessary after the second set, I’d do it right after like when I was doing sled drags and then sandbag hold for husafell work. Second set was tougher (I was having a harder time controlling the eccentric) and got onto the GHD. That felt good and called it at 45 seconds. Took a moment to cooldown before spending about a minute practicing coming down the stairs backwards for the power stairs. Stretched and put stuff away before driving home.