October 8, 2023 - October 14, 2023 - Week 16

October 9, 2023 – Week 16, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x2
210x1
240x1
270x1
270x1
270x1
270x1
270x1

Stretching
 
Comments: The last week of training for Nationals. It’s here again and for a bit, it didn’t look like I was going to be ready for it. This first workout of the week is the last “real” workout as the deload starts with the next two sessions being submaximal. Recovery needs to be my focus. Sunday ended up being the first day this fall where it was cold enough to need to put on the heating. I was feeling a bit stressed with my knees feeling as achy/sore as they were. I know it just means that I need to deload and the lead up will be enough time to be feeling decent. I’ve been here before. Scale says dropping the instant oatmeal had my weight go down 2lbs. So up 3lbs total. Could also be slightly off from not eating as many meals as I usually do on Saturday having to train several hours later. But bringing back the oatmeal as I should be ok with that and the other things. I definitely noticed increase core stability from the slight increase in bodyweight. Replaced the insoles of my moving event shoes and walking shoes as well. Also started taking airborne (not overdoing it like last year) leading up to Nats. Plan is last shots done this week. Trying my best to be healthy and not have a compromised immune system. Peaking can do that and I really don’t want a repeat of 2017 Nationals ever again with the flu. Good that I was off work today to really focus on this last pressing session. I was nervous but it had to be done. Nothing besides breakfast before lifting. I was making sure that I was feeling good. Despite my knees aching, they actually didn’t really seem to act up much doing my warming up stuff. I was feeling about how I should I guess. The plan was 270lbs for 5x1 after working up. 30lbs jumps up to that weight. There had been some changes but this weight and sets didn’t change. Even when going to under 265lbs class. What did get changed based on my abilities was the rest period. Initially, it was to be EMOM but I had voiced concerns that I wasn’t quite ready for that kind of pacing on log as far as mentally and conditioning wise and certainly not at 20-30lbs over the most I’ve ever done for EMOM on log from the floor. So it was moved to 90 seconds as an option. After last week with attempted EMOM and then switching to 90 seconds after a missed rep, that was changed to 3 minutes rest. Then right before training got another update to make the working up sets be 3 minutes apart and rest 5 minutes for the singles. This was the right call for the day and where I am. I was nervous with my knees aching and I was feeling really sore from stones. Slight contact bruise on the left inside knee with my inner thighs and biceps being quite sore. The pacing out actually was good as far as how warming up with a lot of people may be rather than my usual setup the weights and get it done until work sets. I had stopped with the elbow sleeves (they are knee sleeves I use haha) because I had thought maybe they were throwing off my pressing. I think they do for reps at a certain weight with log. But this was the time to test for singles. Because my options are going to be 255lbs for reps or 305lbs for a single. Which would tie my competition best single. I wore the elbow sleeves for every set. Knees were feeling not great for the first two warm up sets. I was also having some issues with my breathing as far as not holding my breath so I did have time where I had to lean on the log before moving on. 210lbs is where the weight finally felt good for me as far as moving like it should. Then 240lbs felt darn heavy. For the working weight, I stripped down the weights to change things up for contest. My log is 87lbs empty and I know the competition log is 134lbs empty. And with bumper plates the weight is more to the ends vs spread out over the log. I had tried to make myself used to the heavier log on the chest with my thinner log that was off balanced and 108lbs empty but the diameter difference wasn’t helping for the feel. So my thinking was to put the new thin steel plates to use and have those be on the inside and then the bumper plates. That certainly made a difference. First working set felt heavy. Press went up but I got a bit off balance on it and walked backwards. Second one I didn’t pull the log into myself on the clean and it was low and had to muscle it up which took a bit out of my power and ended up being the hardest lift of the day. The elbow sleeves make that part a little tougher if I’m not focusing on it (didn’t want to strain biceps). Third and fourth went up quite well and probably the best reps of the day. I had to pause a moment on the third due to how violent the clean to the shoulder was. No notes for the fourth. Fifth rep I did a little bit of hold/showboating for my own confidence. Shins were feeling a bit raw from the log. But five reps above my body weight will do. I’m up in the air still on which option but likely light log for reps to just be on the board and save for the four hard events to come. Ate a bunch of little meals in short succession as I put stuff away and stretched. It was good I had off as attempting to do this workout during my lunch would’ve been tough with the forced longer breaks and the risk of rain after work was not worth it. Two more sessions.

October 11, 2023 – Week 16, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Power Stairs (18”)
61x5
106x3
151x2
196x1
241x1
286x1
EMOM
331x1
331x1
331x1
331x1
331x1

Stretching
 
Comments: With the workout Monday, I’ve kind of gotten through to Nats and just have to not have some kind of illness or accident between now and then. These last few workouts and such should be not things that stress me out or cause me to be nervous. I was feeling the past few workouts in my body the day before and it was good that it was just walking and soft tissue work. Work wasn’t so bad coming back after a three-day weekend. Trying to not let work stress me out like it has in the past leading up to competitions. It helps nothing. Got down two meals before starting training. Warming up stuff was fine. Some aches in the knees and shoulders but also some muscle soreness. My lats, upper back, biceps and forearms were still feeling Monday and Saturday. Which I guess is fine for this session as I’m to be doing power stairs and this would be the last event of day two after doing log work, stones and bag toss (which were done Saturday and Monday). So maybe a good idea to feel some soreness fatigue even for this “light session”. I say light as it is the lightest the power stairs have been besides the first session of them but 331lbs isn’t exactly super light. Usually when doing a deload with Mr. Westerling, it is usually a low volume but decently heavy pressing most times with a lower body “speed” session and a “cardio” session to finish off the prep. It had gotten colder out as I mentioned and apparently cold enough that it messed up some of the wasps that use the power rack as a nest. Even if they aren’t nice and I know that they don’t survive the winter, it is a little sad seeing them perish. But such is their life. This power stair session was going to be a little different. The first session had just been “taps” for light weight and speed and then with the change being doing a top set of 9 reps. This was closer to that first workout. Work up as I have been to the first implement and do 5 singles EMOM style. Since it was just singles, I did want to try something that I couldn’t really do with the rep sets. And that was to hop up on the step with the implement. The plyo box setup I bought and setup for at home was not big enough for me to stand on with the weight. The other setup idea would be the crash pads but I know those may not be the most sturdy/stable. But it would be the right height and big enough for me to at least do that. Suffice it to say, that I won’t be doing this way again in the future. But I felt it was important to see how things felt so that it wasn’t a day of the contest testing out. Like I’ve mentioned before, I haven’t really had these for many steps in the past or really trained them. But it has been over a decade since I’ve done these in a competition and I’m not quite as “springy” as it were with the wear and tear on my joints. I can’t expect that my body is going to be reacting how I need it without some warming up. And unfortunately, with things like bounds and such, you can’t really do half measures. So to start out I did just the last rep of the sets warming up (when doing reps) to hop up with the weight. I imagine this will be better with a firm and stable surface. But trying to hop up with both legs at the same time may have the stretch reflex aspect, it is a bit hit or miss with actual placement and with my knees and such. The 1-2 seems to be the better option for me to get a stable base and go. But again, this setup I got for this wasn’t exactly the best. Even with light weight, I made sure that I applied liquid chalk and wore my hard belt (albeit one notch loose). First rep went fine but that was about that haha. Second rep the setup almost tipped over. The rest of the reps I just hopped up there but didn’t try to plant myself or stay up there. It moved good but it did feel heavier than I’d have liked. This did end up going by pretty quick. And despite what would appear to be my unintentional best efforts to get injured, I did not. I put stuff away and also setup some things for the last workout. Saturday is going to be rain for like 21 of the 24hrs so doing it Friday instead (which Mike said was better anyways to give more rest). Got some more food down and back to work with stretching planned after my shift. Get last “safety precaution” over with tomorrow and hopefully no issues/incidents with that. One and done.

October 13, 2023 – Week 16, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (15’7”)
EMOM
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1

Sled Pushes/Sled Drags (minute rests)
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
195x50’/50’

Stretching
 
Comments: The last one. With what was planned, it made sense to have this session be at home and a day earlier. Because the forecast had for Saturday rain for 21 out of 24hrs. And considering what I was to be doing, it was best to do this on a day where it wasn’t raining. Cut down on any issues. So a day earlier. I had not planned for that in advance as I had a vaccination scheduled for after work the day before and considering what it was, I had a feeling that it would leave me feeling pretty sore (it did). Not so much that I needed to take anything to take the edge off to sleep or anything so I guess that is a plus. For the workout itself, I was debating doing things during my lunch break or after work. I was leaning towards after work but I think seeing that it was getting dark fairly quickly at this point that I wanted to try and do this in the daylight and then I could just stretch after work. So the left shoulder was sore from the shot. My knees were feeling pretty achy today. I guess I usually get more rest. I was feeling them on some of the warming up stuff. But other stuff felt fine and good. The plan for the day was to start off with bag toss. Yes, just did it last week. But it’s not that taxing. This was the main reason I wanted to do this a day early as didn’t want to toss in the rain. I’ve done it but it is annoying and stuff can go sideways. And considering how clumsy I felt I was with my coordination on power stairs, I didn’t want to tempt fate. I have a bag toss setup at home (well a toss setup) and I had reinforced it like 8 weeks back so it stands more erect. I had spent time Wednesday moving the stall mat over and adjusting the sandbag to 30lbs. Plan was just a 10 minutes EMOM with that weight bag. If I was still competing as an open HW, I’d probably be a bit miffed that my setup wasn’t 16’ but since under 265lbs is 15’, this was acceptable. And probably give me a little better idea of things with how there isn’t a backboard near the bottom for support. Knees were quite achy. My bag tossing has improved as far as getting up and over 15’ height. First and third toss were the worst tosses whereas my second and final toss felt like the best as far as economy of depth and getting maximum height. I put stuff away before moving through the garage to my front yard and into the street for the rest of the training session. This part of things had been what I was worried about as far as timing. 10 minutes of EMOM with tosses was going to be about 10 minutes give or take. Usually to end up prep is sled work. Lot of repetitions but no concentric so easy to recover from. Get the body moving, blood pumping. Depending on the focus will dictate the plan. And that was to do 10 sets of 50’/50’ with a minute rest. The longer rest had me a little concerned that I might be cutting it close as far as getting back to work from lunch timely. I was also not sure it was a long enough rest to be able to do a set and then go inside to check and come back out. It has been a bit since I’ve done a street workout. Push the knock-off prowler up the street and then drag it back down the street to the start. If I was doing this on the turf at the gym, I’d be using less weight. But here I need more. Let me say that I’m out of practice of this. And by this, I mean moving in any kind of sprint. My knees felt incredibly achy and stiff. On both the pushing and dragging. But I’m also familiar with it and I felt that I gradually got better and then hit a certain statis of times (about 20 seconds). Slowest was the first set of 23 seconds. I did use one of the rests to check time and see how long it took to check and come back and it was less than a minute. Checked twice to make sure that I was good during the sets. This was easy but also getting me breathing a bit heavy and having some stuff feeling a bit more fatigued than usual. I mean, haven’t really been working some of these systems for a bit. I drifted to the left a bit on one set so had to adjust after that. Second to last set I missed the ropes and had to regrab so that ate some time. I feel I stuck to a pretty consistent style for the push but I did alternate between a head forward and head back with the drag. Last set ended up being my fastest under 20 seconds. Joints in my hips, knees and ankles feeling it a bit. Put stuff away and ate food. Stretching for after work. And now to rest my fevered brain and achy joints. Survived another training prep.