November 12, 2023 - November 18, 2023 - Week 3

 November 13, 2023 – Week 3, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Seated Reverse Band Axle Presses (back support, chin height, 110lbs assistance)
116x5
146x3
176x2
206x2
236x2
266x2
286x2
306x2

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx10 at pin 13
sbx8 at pin 15
sbx8 at pin 17
sbx8 at pin 19
sbx8 at pin 21
sbx8 at pin 23

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x8
120x8
150x8
180x8
210x8

Stretching
 
Comments: I had been wanting to train since Sunday but knew I needed the rest. Also wanted to do it while it was light outside but again couldn’t do that either. I was proper annoyed by time I could train from getting a lot of work assigned in the last 25 minutes of my day that had no way of getting done so means I got stuff from yesterday to do first thing in the morning on top of other stuff. Joy. Made it through the first two weeks of prep, which is kind of the first true workouts and it will be a question of how the fatigue builds from each session going forward. Arms sore from stones because of course they are. Going to happen when you do 20 reps with no tacky. Also part of why just because you can do something doesn’t mean that body is fully conditioned for it and able to recover. Which is why I wanted to make sure I could do it and hopefully have it be repeatable. Also raw skin from no tape. The arm soreness had me glad that I wasn’t doing log clean and press every week this time around. Weight has been holding steady at 264.8lbs for three weeks now. Good in that I can maintain at this but I do want to see if I can get the scale to go up some more so as to fill out things a bit more. So adding in an additional small meal to see how that goes. Movement stuff to start things off. I forgot that last time I did this workout was before DLS stuff so there was still light outside for most of the workout. Now it is just darkness. Joints felt surprisingly ok with warming up. Then it was time for the lifting of weights. Starting things off with reverse band work with the axle again. Seated with back support at chin height with the same band assistance. Goal was warm up in triples with 20-30lbs jumps to a top double that wasn’t feeling like I was grinding out reps. I was surprised with how tough things go with the jumps as I got up in weight. Like the 30lbs at the start felt like nothing really. But I knew it was deceptive as the weight climbed with the ratio of the weight at the bottom becoming greater with more weight. Suggested was to do 315lbs but I knew that wasn’t going to happen with just how things had felt last time when I gave that an attempt and it felt like it wasn’t going to go. And that is despite 296lbs feeling pretty good for the triple. Done a lot more pressing since last did these so shoulders didn’t seem to have any discomfort. I made sure that I applied the support gear appropriately as I went about doing these. Trying to get things into the right position for how it would feel for log pressing (opening up chest). Did 30lbs jumps up to 266lbs and then did 20lbs. This was potentially a gamble as I wasn’t feeling like it was going to be so easy. Honestly, I’m wondering if misloaded the weight last time with how things were feeling (but know I couldn’t have misloaded it by 30lbs). I was aiming for just 10lbs more than last time. The weight is a good bit at the bottom percentage wise over last time compared to the full weight at lockout. 286lbs didn’t feel super amazing like 306lbs would go up really. But got set and built up tension within myself and gave it a shot. And the first rep went up and I felt for sure no issue the second rep. Well it felt like not issue until I hit the sticking point where the full weight is in my hands. Just wasn’t going up but I wasn’t going to miss a rep or let my form breakdown. No exaggeration it took me 4 seconds to get through that sticking point. Happy I didn’t miss or breakdown in form but not too thrilled that I ended up having a grinder of a rep. But I know that this work is needed for me to get my pressing to continue on the upward trend. I’m not sure what is in store for the next time this is likely to pop up but I imagine it will need to potentially be pulled back some or make even smaller jump in weight for top weight over the previous session. But enough of that, on to the rest of the workout. The substitution of band assisted pull-ups for the lat pulldowns was next. This time sets of 8 reps up to a top set. Again a moderate set but leaving less in the tank. Considering how exhausted my arms felt last time I did these (not used to it) and the beating they took with arm-over-arm and no tacky stones, I was only expecting to go a little bit more than last time. Plan was pin 21 for the support working down in 2 pin jumps from pin 13. My right biceps cramped up on me at the shoulder insertion on the second set of pull-ups so that wasn’t too fun. I’m just glad it is just that and not something that will derail training. And also that not doing any log cleans this session. So kept going, just trying to not have my biceps pulling too much of the movement that should be for the back. I was expecting pin 21 to be tougher than it ended up being. It was too easy to stop there so ended up going down 2 more pins for another set. That was the right one for this time. Log on incline to finish up the session. Gingerly moving this around to get it into the setup. Like the pull ups, this was to be sets of 8 reps warming up to a top set of 8 reps. I’d have had problems if I was doing dumbbell pressing with having to curl/clean/shoulder those weights with my sore arms. Suggested was to do 30-40lbs more than last time. 30lbs seemed about right to me, especially considering how much effort I needed to expend on the top double for the reverse band stuff. Feeling the pressing from the past week and this session. Wasn’t feeling so easy compared to last time but felt comfortable with the last set. Put stuff away and stretched before eating leftovers with new food cooked.

November 15, 2023 – Week 3, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
495x1
545x3

Sandbag Squats (to 18” box)
112x5
175x5
225x5

Planks
bw+20x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Initially for this workout, the only thing I was really thinking would be of concern was the deadlifting but with how my biceps were feeling (especially the right one after Monday), I was having a few more concerns about things. Worries that the cramping was something more like a strain or worse. I’ve managed to keep going through biceps pulls and tears in the past with modification and still compete to the best of my ability. It was not ideal with that and having to move around odd furniture for my parents Tuesday evening. Just have to keep up soft tissue work and rest. Upper abs sore too. Not ideal for heavy deadlifts. Warming up same as Monday, joints felt surprisingly ok with warming up. No issues doing any of the stuff as far as my biceps. I did do some additional hip/ankle/knee stuff to prep for the deadlifting. Speaking of which, time to make the deadlifts. Like last time, work up to a “conservative” triple. After last time and discussing the plans and what were the realistic options and plans, it was decided that I go for 545lbs for the top weight. I felt that was doable. It should be doable. I guess I’ve not really been doing much in the way of deadlifting with a bar and without it being with a suit or with a deadlift bar because apparently this was going to be 20lbs over my best post 2016 back injury triple. And even going further back in training, I’ve only ever done 550lbs for a triple without a suit and using a regular power bar. I know that now after the fact but didn’t know that going into this. Just felt like this was what I needed to be doing to be on track for the bare minimum I need to be at for competing in a month on this particular event setup. Unlike last week, I removed the knee sleeves that I was using as shin guards. I was wondering if the tactile sensation was preventing me from bending my ankles and knees more which caused me to look very much like a stiff-legged deadlift last time that just felt off. Trying to consciously get more bend and feel the lower body power as well as try (but not really succeed) in having my knees more forward than shoulders. 135lbs felt ok. Again, this isn’t where I feel best. Maybe this felt a little better this time around. Left knee a little achy. 225lbs felt fast as per usual. I decided this time around that I’d use metal plates until I got to 495lbs and then use the rubber again for there. Just because. Get it to look like more weight so not thinking about it so much. Maybe. 315lbs definitely felt better compared to last time so that was encouraging. It hadn’t felt that great last week. 405lbs just felt ok. Not feeling like something that I could do a ton of reps on with how it felt really. Rubber plate for the 495lbs. I’m no sure as far as how things would feel if I was to be doing reps here (as singles after 315lbs) but it definitely felt good on the pull and didn’t feel so awkward. So I was feeling pretty good for 545lbs a little bit nervous. I did attempt to get the most hyped but I was having some issues getting that last 5-10% over the top but what I had should be enough. Hopefully. It should be. 545lbs went up pretty good for the first rep. Similar issues with the bar roll out on the initial break off the ground. I was kind of surprised the second rep felt as tough as it did. The difficulty had a slight hesitation for the third rep (also feeling my glasses sliding off my face). This was definitely close to a max here. Like 50/50 if I went for a fourth rep here and it wouldn’t be a pretty rep. Only had shakes for this last one but no hitching. Quick reflexes unstrapping as the bar hit the ground to be able to catch my glasses as they fell off my face. Floor pulls just feel awkward for me and it does feel like a deficit for me with how much better a slightly elevated pull feels for me (3-4” more). The assemblage of limbs and levers doesn’t look like it fits watching deadlifts sometimes. But the contested thing this time around is a standard barbell from the floor for reps so that is what I’m doing. With this, I should be on track for 585lbs for something. After being done with deadlifts, it was time for the other thing I was a little worried about. Sandbag squats to a parallel box. This had been light but odd exercise last time. And my sandbag collection is limited so big jumps kind of the name of the game. Plan being a little bit more than last time for a set of 5 reps after working up. I did 175x2x5 so 225x5 would be the plan today. This had been quite rough on the knees last time I did these so adding 50lbs to that was some concern but knees have been having mostly good days since then. But picking up and hugging sandbags wasn’t exactly something I wanted to be doing with not only healing raw skin on my forearms but my biceps that were quite sore from past workouts. This wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have the caveat of keeping the sandbag off my legs when I sit down on the box. That makes these a lot harder. Like, I could do a ton of reps if I did them I’ve seen most people do a variation of this. A pain to keep it up off the legs so when I can’t seem to do that well enough I try to keep the sandbag upright in a way that it doesn’t get assistance from there. Things after the warming up actually went quite well. Tougher to hold yes but knees didn’t seem to be bothered to much and my arms didn’t get worse. Breathing was also better. Core work in the form of planks to finish up the session. Last time had been a relief that I could do these again without bothering my elbow bursitis. Same as last time but allowed to add some weight to the regular plank. Put 20lbs of leg weights in a backpack for that. Easy stuff. Side planks were also easy. I did take a bit more rest because I was putting stuff away between the sets and exercises in the garage from the sandbag stuff as well as belching a good bit as well. Built up the most sweat from these planks honestly. Done this this and stretched out before cooking dinner. Hopefully arms continue to heal up and progress continues for the pulls and pressing.

November 18, 2023 – Week 3, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Conan’s Wheel
+400x1 rotation (clockwise) approx. 289.5lbs for 81’8”
+400x1 rotation (counterclockwise) approx. 289.5lbs for 81’8”
+600x.5 rotation (clockwise) approx. 390.5lbs for 40’10”
+600x.5 rotation (counterclockwise) approx. 390.5lbs for 40’10”
+800x1.5 rotations (clockwise) approx. 491lbs for 123’5”
+800x1.25 rotations (counterclockwise) approx. 491lbs for 104’9”

Sled Pushes/Sled Drags (turf)
135x50’/50’
165x50’/50’
195x50’/50’
225x50’/50’
255x50’/50’
285x50’/50’

Stretching
 
Comments: Work was getting exhausting by the end of the week. And keeping an eye on the right biceps was also weighing on me. But seems to be fine. Some calf tightness in the right side while out walking Friday. Got things ready to hopefully get up and go train. I had plans for the session that I knew would eat up a lot of time. And I ended up getting a later start because I got caught up in doing some calculations for the session. Drive out was really smooth but I did notice as I got close to the gym that there wasn’t traffic coming the other way and saw what appears to be road construction that doesn’t look like going to be done anytime soon. Turns out the detour to get back home adds like 15 minutes to my drive home. Allegedly it will be done by Monday. Good bit of people at the gym. Which would be good if I felt comfortable asking for assistance for what I had in mind. And bad if I stuck to the original plan. Did the mobility warming up stuff which felt fine. The time vampire for the session was going to be conan’s wheel. I know that I said it was a pain to setup and would require a ton of effort to do it. And it did. But I felt it was important that I get a session on it so that I don’t come into the competition not fully prepared. I do feel the yoke zercher carries are good stuff for building and training. But the moving of the weight and it being a lot more then what I’ll be moving compared to the yoke (weight in hand about the same). So this alternative workout was discussed with Mr. Westerling and I knew it would be much like eating crab legs in that it would a lot of effort for very little sweat meat. I had setup the empty conan’s wheel with an anchor setup (which thankfully didn’t need to be as heavy as I was thinking) and then did the warming up for the session before getting all the weights out. The plan was 50% a lap going both ways (clockwise and counterclockwise) and then 75% for half a lap both ways and then 100% for max distance both ways. Resting as needed. I was initially going to treat it as 50% of contest weight in hand (a guess) and go from there. But I decided that would take longer so I just went with 50% weight I added to the setup and so on. Contest is 680lbs added on the setup for the contest at the gym. But there are differences between the one here and the on there. The setup at the competition gym is heavier in hand empty (125lbs or so compared to 88lbs or so). Also the arm of the device is shorter (9’ to compared to 13’). Reviewing videos and pictures of the competition setup, it would be close to 500lbs weight in hand from what I can see. It will depend on where they adjust the weight tree but on the closer setup, it’s about 55% the distance. The setup at the gym is about 50% or so. Since lighter and closer to the middle, that means I’d need a lot more weight on this to get it close to contest setup. So something like 825lbs added to be just over 500lbs. 800lbs seemed like close enough and made for convenient 200lbs jumps with the many 100lbs plates at the gym (most being near the power stairs). I think my process here was just thinking of the setting up as part of the session as I’d be getting a lot less volume in with this session. First go didn’t feel that bad. That pick does suck as it is not as stable as when I do the yoke and I have to brace hard for the pick and then have to let my air out and stabilize or I will pass out. The parking lot isn’t even so that didn’t help here. I lowered the pick height 1 notch for the next set of runs as I was worried that I’d be scrapping the blacktop with more weight. Obviously the pick took a bit more out of me with that. But once I got over that it didn’t feel that bad. Didn’t feel like I had much in the way of compression so I raised the pick height back up for the top sets. Which ended up being a mistake in hindsight. The initial start off the pick is rough with this much live weight but it is necessary. I was glad that I got more than a lap here. I compressed too much and the weight got stuck on the blacktop. I wasn’t done. I know that once you drop you are done with the conan’s wheel but I feel like this was more just the uneven ground. I lowered the pick height a notch and got back under it (about 30 seconds total) and managed to get a little past a half a lap. Hamstrings (especially the left one) were on fire. Took a good long rest before going again. I’m seeing one downside with the 50’ drops and turns is that the arms can recover from readjusting that frequently when doing a full run like this the fatigue builds from the time under tension. I had a bad pick for the second run and I was shy of a lap before I could feel it dragging too much to keep going. About 45 seconds this time as I thought maybe I could get it lower but not without turning the attachment upside down so I just regripped and got a better position and got a little bit past a quarter into a second lap. Would’ve been nice to not have to repick it both times here. But rather here than in competition where it would be the end of the run. Tape did seem to help with the raw skin and some of the bruising for the upper arms. Will need to commit tot that at the start rather than at the end when I’ve already used chalk. Hopefully the contest setup is sturdier with less flex in it. But I will need to err on the lower pick side of things. Putting the setup away by myself was just as tiring as setting it up. Also had the added factor of fatigued hamstrings, hips and upper body to contend with. But this was fine as I needed to take a break before finishing things up with the sled work. Same as last time with it being 50’/50’ of pushing followed by backwards drag. My plan this go around was to start lighter but make bigger jumps. 10lbs lighter and do 30lbs jumps and see where that leaves me. Knees feeling better so didn’t seem so foreign working up like it did last time. Sure, there were some knee aches as I was getting good and ready. Again, 225lbs felt pretty tough comparatively and I was thinking maybe the next jump was it. But I guess putting more focus into it and motivating myself with short, sharp exhales got me feeling like I was leaving too much on the table. So I took a longer rest and added 30lbs more and got that still in under 30 seconds. Quads and hamstring were pumped. Almost painfully so in the quads. I felt I needed to push a little more since not as much conan’s wheel volume. Put stuff away before getting in the car for a longer than normal return commute. Ate food when I got home and then stretched.