October 1, 2023 - October 7, 2023 - Week 15

 October 2, 2023 – Week 15, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x1
240x1
260x1
260x1
260x1
260x0
260x1
260x1

Stretching
 
Comments: Well it would seem the change is good as far as weight gain. Just over 260lbs now (been testing about same time on Sundays). So don’t want to get too close at this point if I’m able to add about 2lbs a week so going to drop the oatmeal for the moment since that will last unlike the other food stuff. At this point, just trying to get through the last bits of this prep. Nationals should decide a lot of things for me as far next step. These pressing sessions leading up are probably going to be the most stressful for me mentally of the workouts. Other workouts are tough but I’m not seeing those as failure as being an option with them. Which kind of shows how much work is needed with my pressing mentally as well as physically. Both are coming back but it requires a certain resolve. Like last Monday, I didn’t feel like putting down any food besides breakfast before training. I had a lot of work to catch up on. Lunch time lifting again as this session has been continuing to fit and there was initially plans for after work with family which got put on hold and the were back on later in the day. So it was good that I did this when I did. Weather was warm but nice. I had the fan going on the patio so that I didn’t overheat with the grip shirt on as that does not breath at all. Warming up felt good. Some joint aches but not as much as they were on Saturday. I was feeling a bit anxious and pumped so that was also a factor. Then it was time for log. As I mentioned, last week was the last week of doubles. This was a 10lbs jump now and goal was 5x1 done EMOM style if I could manage it. At my best, I’ve done 256lbs out of the rack for log as an EMOM. I’m sure I’ve done other things with shorter rests too with more weight when I was younger. But 240lbs is definitely the most I’ve done with a clean and press on log. And that was when I was hitting over 300lbs about every session on log after that. 260lbs I did do a brief stint of axle clean and press (from the belt) so it was something doable. But not probably at this very moment. At least not feeling like 99% confident I could. I had been given permission to increase the rest to 90 seconds but I did want to try and get this done EMOM. I’m feeling more comfortable with the log and knowing I need to be a little more labored/slow with the clean and dip at the start and as I work up I get more comfortable. Left knee was feeling a little achy but that seemed to go away. Pressing was feeling good. Didn’t have a great clean with 210lbs and had to let it sit on my chest a bit before pressing. 240lbs felt somewhat comfortable. Then it was time. This would be the first time in this training cycle that I was using more than the light option for contest weight. I set the timer for EMOM and got set. 260lbs is definitely more than 250lbs. But this was for singles and not doubles and I should be able to do that based off of last week. Also know that this is probably not the most ideal way of doing things with the log but the timeline required it. I was able to get the first three singles EMOM style. The fourth is where I ran into an issue. I didn’t feel comfortable on the initial dip and then the press went out in front of me. I hesitated a moment before putting it down and walking away to retry. I was going to go earlier but stopped and took off the timer as I didn’t want that as a reminder. I’d take more like 90 seconds rest to get these last few reps. Hopefully. It was about EMOM style rest after the miss for me to come back for the successful fourth lift. Lockout was tough but I didn’t half ass it or get a soft lockout. I made sure it was locked out and stable and head through. Need to with singles. I then took about 90 seconds rest before going for the last one. First go nope and had to regroup and get more lower body drive to get it up there for me to be able to slowly lock out the rep. It seemed to be a conditioning thing with me having my lower body drive (which could be from the medley work Saturday). But I was able to lockout reps with my triceps so that was a good. No biceps soreness this week. Not sure if the last workout will be adjusted based off of this one. Unless I feel super amazing at Nationals, I’m likely to go with the lighter log and just work on improving after then. Ate the meal I skipped and followed that shortly with lunch. Eventually stretching after family activities done.

October 4, 2023 – Week 15, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Trap Bar Deadlifts (Versa Gripps, briefs)
150x5
240x3
330x2
420x1
510x1
600x1
652x1

Stretching
 
Comments: I had felt a bit worn Monday evening and most of Tuesday. Strong tasting food (hot or bitter) seemed to perk me up. I was feeling full without the instant oatmeal being in the mix this week. I could tell that I had been stressed out and my body was needing to recover. Took allergy meds the day before in the afternoon and ended up taking Nyquil before bed as usually that seems to help me sleep well when I’m feeling bad allergies and tired and whatever is usually gone in the morning and I don’t even need to take any allergy meds. Of course, I also knew that my joints would likely feel it once I started doing things. I’ve been tempted to ice my knees after Saturday training but I’ve been able to not use that for a bit now and I’d like to keep away from that if I can. Only a few more heavy sessions and I’ll then be able to recover a good bit before Nationals. Morning wasn’t as chaotic as Monday’s was and I wasn’t nearly as nervous for training so I was able to get in a meal besides breakfast before training. Really this was feeling like a done deal unless something disastrous happened. The warming up stuff was fine. I was definitely not feeling as much of heart in my chest compared to Monday. Knees were a bit achy. Left shoulder slightly more achy compared to Monday but again, not an indicator really. But I knew that since I took Nyquil/Dayquil that I’d have some joint stuff. Then time for trap bar deadlifts. This is the last time I’m touching this before Nationals. Plan was to work up to a top single with something left in the tank. So aim was 90-95% of what I could hit. Been basing that off the goal of 310kgs at competition. Two sessions back did slightly more than the opening weight (250kgs) and then last session was slightly more than the next jump (270kgs). So following that progression, goal was slightly more than the next jump (290kgs). Plate jumps up to 600lbs and then whatever the next jump (which was suggested as 650lbs). Knees were feeling a bit achy on these working up. Trying to not get amped up until the weights got heavy. I will say that if this was a day where I was going for the single, this wouldn’t be the day I’d pick with how the weights were feeling. I got a bit worried when 510lbs felt as heavy as it did. Like harder than 555lbs felt last time. And I still had to add +140lbs to that for the day’s plan. I got a little bit hyped for 600lbs. Feeling that in the lower back a bit more than I’d like. I think that the width of the trap bar makes it harder for me to engage stuff that would make bracing better. But this did feel heavy. I didn’t film it so maybe it looked comparable to the 602lbs last time. But the top lift was what really mattered. I got pretty hyped for this last one. Went with odd weights with 652lbs to keep with the theme I’ve been doing on these the past two sessions. Trying to stay focused. Not let things distract me like the grips not feeling just right or my knees feeling achy or knowing this was going to be tough. A couple of grunts and I pulled. There was a slight hesitation and then once it broke the ground I knew there was enough speed that this was a done lift. Didn’t mean it was easy. I had the grip slightly off center so the weight did shift on me as I was pulling it but I adjusted accordingly. My face definitely got as dark a hue of red as the shirt I was wearing. I set it down pretty quickly after I got to lockout and let out a roar. Not entirely sure why I did. Not like this is the most weight I’ve ever deadlifted. Just the most this cycle and on this lift. I guess I still needed an outlet after getting amped up for the pull. I’m generally not that loud with my shouting and usually it is on deadlifts in training I do that haha. I’m definitely looking forward to the time to recover after these next two heavy sessions. Put stuff away before eating lunch and getting back to work with the plan to stretch afterwards.

October 7, 2023 – Week 15, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (16’)
EMOM
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
EMOM
42.6x1
42.6x1
42.6x0 (trajectory off)
42.6x1
42.6x1
42.6x1

Stone Carry and Loads
Stone of Steel
140x10’ to 50”
210x10’ to 50”
Atlas Stone
265x10’ to 50”
290x10’ to 50”
310x10’ to 50”
330x10’ to 50”

Atlas Stone Loads
350x7 (21”) to 50”

Stretching
 
Comments: Definitely needing rest as I come to the end of this training cycle. Knees are feeling a bit more achy at this point with what is being asked of them. Haven’t felt like this for good couple of weeks since the change midstream of prep. Ended up getting an early dismissal for work Friday (found out after I got back from lunch Wednesday) so that was a little annoying in that I had to try and take care of stuff that was scheduled for Friday with the expectation I had a full day. But it wasn’t too stressful. I waited until after work to walk and then got stuff ready for Saturday training. Weather wasn’t going to be good in the morning and the forecast wasn’t really changing before I went to bed. So rather than wake up at the time my alarm went off for work, I’d just sleep and wake up when I wake up. It was going to be rainy until 2PM and then it would be sunny so I had to time things so that I wasn’t at home too late (and feel like I had to eat more) and not too early for gym (as I’d probably do something stupid waiting). Drive out wasn’t bad. With arriving a bit later, I was kind of surprised there were people there. There were some people that had been in earlier that had already finished before I showed up. Some people out of town training for Nationals and Official Strongman Games. I had some tips with some things and helped with implementing a new training tool for another person. I did my warming up as well. Felt ok, just some joint aches in the shoulders and knees. The rain finally stopped but the sun wasn’t quite out yet but I needed to get move on as I had already been here for over an hour at this point. First thing was bag toss. Knees were feeling a bit achy and stiff so I did do a few more movements/reps of my warming up for tosses prep to make sure I was not jerky and feeling smooth/loose. As has been the case, 5 tosses with 30lbs and then rest as I felt I needed to and then do 5 more tosses with more weight. Similar to last time, had to get myself to have the bag arc back and not just straight up. The bag is light enough that it’s not an issue but I know it will be as the weight gets up. Use the reps to fine tune things. Ground still damp so bag was getting wet and having to wick the water off the handle. I was nervous for the heavier stuff. Suggested had been 1-2lbs more for 41-42lbs since I was successful with 40lbs with no misses. Of course, this is also to 1’ higher than contest. But I was having a hell of a time trying to get my sandbag to be 42lbs at home and I kept having it go from 41.8lbs to 42.2lbs despite my best efforts so I said screw it and made it 42.6lbs. I didn’t like it being that weight but I’d rather it be closer to 42.5lbs and know it is over 42lbs for sure. But that also meant a pretty big jump from 30lbs. But I’ve done all the other weights up until this point with no issue. I put isopropyl spray on my hands and some light chalk to keep my hands dry. It was drier out so less issues with water. I know the first toss is usually not my best on these heavier tosses. First toss and it barely gets over the band. Like the lowest it could be and succeed. Second toss slightly better but still just clears the band. These wouldn’t have cleared if it was a solid piece. But I’m still a foot above contest. Third toss I tried to get more power into it and while I did, I screwed up on the trajectory and it went up and not back. Highest toss but didn’t clear. Ugh. Fourth toss I’d say was my best. I got it right and it cleared without touching the band. I was happy about that. I told myself I’d do another toss at the end if I got the fifth one to clear like that as well so that I’d have 5 good tosses. Fifth went over without hitting the band. My EMOM timer was done but I have a pretty good idea of timing so I paced out another and did sixth toss. Not quite a high as the fourth but better than the fifth. So a good back half here. It will be interesting to see how I do at 15’ height. Time for stones. Again, I took my time with setting things up here a bit. This workout I was to do 10’ runs with about the weight of each stone in the medley. With how last time went, I was told to go heavier. Knees were feeling a bit stiff. Did stone of steel for the first two stones. That was feeling good. The empty stone of steel felt like nothing. Maybe my knees/hips were aching but I just one motioned the 210lbs for some reason. Need to do the form I’m going to do for the competition. The concrete stones weren’t feeling as comfortable/easy this time around. 265lbs first and that went about how it should but I was not feeling as fast. 290lbs was definitely a little slower compared to last time. To be fair, I’ve added 30lbs to log and 50lbs to deadlift since I last did the stone workout. I’ve not touched the 310lbs stone so I wasn’t too sure how that would go. It was ok but I was finding that my stickiness was getting a lot more grime and such off of stones and I wasn’t holding on as well. 330lbs was then the final weight for the run and load. 5lbs over contest. This is a good stone most of the time. A little slow on the pick but I was able to walk it in with the high position for the load. Last thing was stone load for reps. 350lbs with aim being 6-8 reps. I had been a good pace last time. I was tempted to do 375lbs or something and do lower reps. But I made myself stick to the plan. Tried to clean up my hands as best I could to get the grime off and have a fresh start. Started off fine enough but then on the third attempt to lap my one hand slid and I dropped it rather than fight it as I know how precarious things can be with minimal sticky stuff on stones. Why I have a muscle fibers missing in my right biceps. I knew at that point that this wasn’t going to be a fast day and that I better make sure that I was retacked with the tacky towel after each lift. The loads weren’t a problem, the pick and lap was where things were make or break. Fifth rep I ended up saving it with a deep lap. I was planning on stopping at six reps but I decided that I might as well keep pushing if I was essentially doing a rep every 30-40 seconds at this point. The seventh ended up being another deep lap and bit more effort to get into position to load. Loads were fine. I was a little worried about the deep lap as my left hip had been bothering me during prep earlier this year for PA Dutch with 22” diameter stone. Knock on wood with the 21” 350lbs stone. Cleaned up and since it was later, I stayed to stretch before driving back home. One more heavy session to go. Use the three day weekend to rest up as best I can.