August 9, 2023 – Week 7, Day 2

Front Squats w/ bands (+11lbs bottom/+40lbs top)
45x3
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x4
225x4
225x4
2 seconds pauses
198x4
198x4

Barbell Lunges
45x5/5
75x5/5
105x10/10
105x10/10

Band Assisted Nordic Curls (3 second eccentrics)
mmbx10
mmbx10

Power Pin Swings
119x2
140x6
159x5
159x5
159x5
159x5
159x5
159x5
159x5
159x5

Banded Lying Knee Tucks (2 second holds)
µb’sx20
µb’sx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Was feeling the Monday session still at this point. I was also still feeling stuff from Saturday session (upper back from trap bar and knees from the power stair contact bruises). Stiff on the left side and some new bruises. And bug bites. Discussion prior to session had been about adjusting some things as plan was to have deadlift be part of this session but I had a thought occur to me that since competition Day 2 has deadlift first thing before the other events, it probably made sense to keep it there and have Day 1 and Day 4 of my workout week be the harder recovery wise and keep the Day 2 and Day 3 as they’ve been. I can fully rest on Sunday compared to the work week. See how that goes. Had those slight feelings that I’m not nearly strong enough with where I’m starting (even though this is starting off better spot from last time). Just have to listen when given advice and keep pushing. First thing was front squats. Bands added this time. Seemed plan was similar to log press with regular reps and then drop some weight for paused reps. I see the bands added as more to get me utilize my lower body drive better. The bands adding tension and accelerating the eccentric. Eccentrics and isometrics to work on being able to reverse and load the concentric as the turnaround to build force is so small for overhead leg drive. Plan was work up in 2-3 rep sets to 3x4 at RPE 6 with 10% in bands. Last time I did these, I had a bit more leeway in the band tension and I was at the gym with band pegs so needed to do some testing. I had intended to test this out at lunch or the day before even but things just got a bit complicated doing that so it was just so. I had expectations here based on what I had as tentative max from last time I was working front squats in some capacity (last year around this time lol) and with how well the 40lbs jump went from tempo to pause style. Warming up it was feeling like that would be happening but once I got to 185lbs, it felt a ton harder. Enough so that I got the camera ready for this to be my working weight rather than another jump up. I was thinking 265lbs and that was not correct on the day. 225lbs felt pretty rough that first set and had me worried I had got even this right. But I felt better as I went with the last set being the best and smoothest. Then dropped the weight down some for pause style like last week. But still with bands. The pause style with the abrupt stop and holds feel rougher on my knees. Second set felt better than the first. This front squat stuff (was also having me think about not being strong enough with overhead and pulls) I was going a little too aggressive considering where I was starting at and if I had been of the mind to go with the weight I had ended up with, the warming up would’ve been more in line with that and probably not felt as rough. Lesson for next time. Time for barbell lunges. These need work and have the biggest ceiling for improvement with what it will help me with at this point. Same as last time but actually doing just two working sets this time. Attempting to stay more upright. Empty bar feels terrible compared to when I’m more warmed up with weight. I did some mobility stuff that I’ve usually done before considering that a lot of the stress is more the tension on the back leg on that knee vs the leg going forward. There is difficulty with consistency because of the increased balance component. But I got through these and I know that with time, I will get better at these. Less weight but very challenging. Nordic curls were up next. Band help this time around. Higher reps because of that. 3 second eccentrics. Starting where I left off with them really. First rep the eccentric took a bit longer to get down before I could gauge the pace to actually get a full movement. I realized after I was done the first set that I forgot to slide my knee sleeves down so as to provide more cushioning for my ankles against the anchor. Fixed that for the second set. Left knee slightly bruised from log work so that was a little off sensation wise. I may need to lower the band assistance for next time. Will see how things are feeling I guess as workload could be a bit much. But for sure less the week after that if plans holds. Time to swing. I ended up buying a swing handle that was a bit heavier and could handle more weight. I was expecting to add like 10lbs to last time and do 8x5 EMOM style but that weight felt so easy that I stopped and added the max I could load up the new handle with my 25’s and smaller plates. I can go heavier with 35’s (probably just over 200lbs). With the handle having a bit more grip to it and being lower to the ground, I was thinking that this would be hard on the back and hands compared to what I was doing. It was not. This weight did require a bit of a half swing to get things going each time and the power needed was more. But I was still able to keep going with the EMOM style. But as far as these go, probably the most challenging I’ve been able to make them. Sounds like adding bands for next time and doing more reps and less sets. So the reverse crunch things from last time were an oops. The intent had been to be more of a braced lower back thing and have it be more of hip flexor rather than entire crunch up of the body like the demo video that was shown on the app. This was more to work things as if bottom of a squat or pull and hold. With that explained, I adjusted how I did these and renamed them so that it was how I was picturing the movement. This was a lot more manageable. Still was fatiguing on the targeted stuff but I was able to get through 20 reps for both sets. Goal is to try and take less rest. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.