August 7, 2023 – Week 7, Day 1

Sandbag Tosses (15’7”, stay on toes)
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x3
110x3
130x3
150x3
170x3
190x3
205x3
220x3
225x3
230x3
5 second holds in rack
207x3
207x3

Swiss Bar Bench Presses
45x3
95x3
135x3
185x5
225x10
225x10

Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (7 second holds last rep)
40’sx3
70’sx3
118’sx12
118’sx12
118’sx12

Incline Dumbbell Extensions (3 second eccentrics)
10’sx5
26’sx12
26’sx12
26’sx12

Stretching
 
Comments: If Saturday was the first really day of event training, this was definitely the second half of it. See where I’m at. I was curious about how this would go. Looked like a tough session. I had a productive day of rest to get stuff done around the house as well as get some moving around in while it was nice out. Got myself thinking about some ideas that I perhaps hadn’t considered before for the training plan for this prep. See if viable/fruitful. Of course with the weather being humid and storms brewing, it had to coincide with when I was done with work to be the worst. It had been just windy and mostly sunny but I could tell it would get nasty. With what was planned, moving to another day wasn’t really feasible without messing a lot of other things up. There were things that I had to do without a ceiling due to my height. Bag toss was moved from the Saturday to during the week. Had been done last prep but as a secondary day. Looking to not have the Saturday session so packed with things. It’s max toss to height so just one bag works. I can also micro load and not focus so much on 5lbs jumps. Work with what I am capable of. So using the 30lbs bag for the planned 10 singles. I was feeling Saturday. The power stairs bruised up my knees on the inside. I guess it could’ve been worse if I didn’t wear the knee sleeves. I tried to pace my time before I actually started with the severity of the rain but eventually just had to do it. I’ve thrown when it was worse. Goal here was just the start and getting up on the toes and trying to hold that. I think part of my warming up here (trying to be quicker) that was missed maybe was with the arc of the toss as the hop back seemed to have me go back as well as up. First toss was fine and then I was just tossing straight up and down the next two. Despite the rain, mosquitoes were taking the chance to get at me. I guess they are even more nimble flyers than I thought. I stopped for about 5 minutes to apply bug spray (I had a lot from last summer but it arrived late so didn’t need it when it arrived) and see if the rain calmed down a little and restarted. Got about 5-6 tosses in before I had a bag go askew on me and go up instead of back and land on the toss setup. Didn’t completely break and I wasn’t going to get up on a metal ladder while there was lightning and an active tornado watch. I spent my time between tosses trying to get parts back together. Ninth toss it fell on it again and just demolished it. I got enough sections put together to at least have some height gauge for the last toss (I got a little off balance on that one and reset). Rushed to get out of the rain for a brief respite. The rain picked up in intensity after that and I kept watch for when it would stop (about 20 minutes). I had already setup stuff for after I was completely done with the great outdoors. I could take the time still to switch out my shirt and shoes to try and dry them out before I needed them again. My forearms were feeling quite warm and I was initially thinking maybe I was having a reaction to the bug spray but I think it was just from doing the tosses and with how it was raining but still very warm. So not a super great start to sandbag toss but considering the circumstances I’ll take it. Lower back was feeling a bit tense after this and did some decompression on my dip stand. Log next. This would be something I would need to see how it felt. As I was waiting, I did some mobility stuff I’d seen someone do with lapping the log and letting it rest on the knees and legs for the deep squat. I tend to have achy knees at the start of log and this kind of thing has been helpful with stiff knees for stuff. Just surprised I didn’t think to try this. I did this about 3 times before I got things ready to lift outside. Goal is just get some points at the show and hopefully get a PR for reps with the weight. So with that in mind, lower reps and some cleans being the aim. Plan for today was to get a start and work to 3x3 with RPE 6-7. One clean on the push presses. Used the pitbull log for the first set and then swapped in the awkward log after that. It definitely made the clean different. I wasn’t too sure where I’d end up but aim was at least 200lbs. I think that would be the minimum my ego could handle. I do like this style of grip shirt better than my previous one (still have it but just in case). Trying to keep the lean back and load the legs and hips for the drive and utilize the triceps and chest with the press. I could’ve just done 220lbs for 3x3 but I felt like I should try and inch it up if I could. There was always a slight issue after that first rep. I tend to have issues with multiple presses right from the chest. I’m hoping that next touch I’ll feel even better here. A brief pause to lower the weight for the next bit of log. Same thing but holding the log on my chest in the rack position for 5 seconds before pressing. 2x3 here. I had mentioned that if I’m going to get stuck of pause on the log, my legs will be locked and if I pause in the dip, the position gets off for me. So that is what we ended up doing. These were a good bit tougher than the none holding style and I was kind of surprised by that. Considering that the first workout of doing clean and presses was just 217lbs the last log based prep (and that was after doing weeks of strict pressing and speed push pressing out of the rack) with this being like the third time touching log in 18 months, I’d say this is probably good start. Slightly over 80% of contest weight for the goal weight. Moved everything inside the sunroom before getting to work on the more gym traditional stuff to end up the session. I was a bit surprised with how much stuff was packed in the session. The benching and rowing were back but adjusted in a way that I could do more weight. Not a superset this time around. Swiss bar benching I’ve done before without my feet up but due to issues with getting the rack height right, I’ve had issues with the pressing. Not since I figured out I needed to start higher. Goal was to do triples up to a weight that I could do 2x8-10 with 4-3RIR. I’ve done 235lbs for 10 reps before with some in the tank. But that wasn’t after doing a bunch of log pressing. I was feeling pretty good I guess warming up in the quarter-plate jumps. 185lbs felt heavier than I would’ve liked and I forgot I was to be doing only a triple here. I was fully expecting 225lbs to be 2x8 situation but I seemed to be fine with it. Get a few reps fast clip like and then more controlled to finish out. Rows were a bit different. Notes were to be explosive but then hold the last rep of each set for 5-7ct. I’ve done this before with rows but I believe it was with an axle and it is really that hold that is the hard part of the set to gauge effort. 3x10-12 and about the same effort planned as the benching. First set was really easy but the fatigue builds over the sets from those holds. I can probably go a bit more here. It is always funny to me when I don’t have to be controlled on rows as I can really bully some weights around on them compared to the more deliberate stuff. I feel like I need to be doing reps with 140ish on these or similar to build up for the log cleans. Ideally the pressing and rowing stuff should be about 285lbs total and for comfortable reps I feel. It was getting late and I was already running behind with things due to the weather delay issues. I’d have been even further behind if I wanted the hour or so to start. I had already started cooking dinner so that hopefully when I finished training it would be nearly ready. Triceps to end out the day. Eccentric extensions. Lower RPE with short rests for 3x10-12. I know I’ve done heavier by a good bit on these but elbows have tended to feel achy since the bursitis issue. And triceps already feeling everything before this. This was probably the right call weight wise with how things were feeling. Each set I could feel the fatigue building. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.