November 5, 2023 - November 11, 2023 - Week 2

 November 6, 2023 – Week 2, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
90x5
120x3
150x2
180x1
210x1
230x1
250x1
250x1
250x1
250x1
250x1

Bent Over Rows
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x5
225x5
Added Straps
275x5

Close Grip Bench Presses (18” spacing)
45x10
85x8
135x5
185x3
225x10

Stretching
 
Comments: Well I made it through the first week of training for this next show. Seeing younger guys be back in the gym and hitting PRs when I’m just feeling ready to lift again haha. My weight did not increase from last week which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If anything it is a good sign as the week before I had just been doing walks whereas this week had been with regularly scheduled workouts and being more workload overall then the past training cycle. So have to see if stagnant or change after this week and so on to see if I need to adjust anything. My stomach and body do seem to be tolerating all the new foods/meals well enough. With this workout, I wasn’t worried about being able to do the weights. More that would I be able to do the weights and have them feel as easy as they should feel. Was this going to be the right effort? Which now I’m thinking might be a habit picked up in the past few years with all the RIR and RPE stuff. Because I know that I will grind myself out and I have to figure out what the intent is. I also had to deal with the soreness from the past week. Nothing really from the first two days. But a lot from Saturday. Legs and glutes kind of used to it but the hips not so much. Upper back and forearms were really feeling the zercher work. Not to mention the bruises I have on my stomach and arms from the belt. This is going to be a painful prep with all the sucky events. Warming up stuff felt fine. Just feeling sore. Not a fan of the Daylight Savings change as that means it is pretty much pitch black shortly after 5PM. Been a bit since it was night time logging. This was the thing that had me anxious for this session. Plan was written for 5x1 with 2 minutes rest with 80%. Suggested was 250lbs. Which would be about 310lbs projected. A 5lbs PR for competition. I wasn’t sure if this was to be based off what I felt I could do or have it be like accidentally on the trap bar pulls for Nats with it being projected. I got clarification that this was more to be something that I could definitely do since I just did Nats and was doing this or above for like the past month. Making it easy was a concern considering how hard the body was worked on Saturday. Forearms sore and maybe my lower body drive wouldn’t be there. This contest isn’t allowing grip shirts which does change the mechanics of the clean a bit. Going to need to use a lot of chalk this prep. Also trying to mimic how I’ve seen log setup at the competition gym and trying to have my log feel heavier with metal plates. No bumper plates this prep I think but using 35lbs plates or smaller to get that lower height and have the weights feel like a heavier log. Those metal plates and how they shift certainly makes things interesting. Getting love bites from the log on the cleans on the forearms as so used to the grip shirt. Will get better by next time I’m sure. Knees and hips a little achy at the start but seemed to be fine. I wasn’t feeling so great but the working weight went about as smooth as it could really. There was no doubt of it being pressed each time. My rest was closer to 90 seconds when I did check film after the fact. I left the log outside so I could move on to the other stuff. Unlike the first week, I didn’t need to do everything outside really for efficiency’s sake. It was quicker to just have the other rack setup in the garage for what was going to be gym work. Just barbell work. First up bent over rows. Warm up in 5’s to a moderate set. Notes being to stop at something I feel I could do 50lbs more for a top set. There are a lot of varieties that pass for “form” with bent over rows so I did ask for clarification. Advised that belt and straps allowed as needed and that start from below the knee cap and pull to the belt/belly button region. So keeping a stable lower back and pull with upper back. I tend to like this variation. Suggested was 225lbs. Unless I felt really terrible, I was going to do more than that. Despite how sore my forearms were, grip didn’t feel bad. These were feeling pretty good. Only thing was just getting into position and my wrists aching a little from the angle. It has been a while. Straps on for the top set. I was debating between 265lbs and 275lbs and just went with 275lbs. Felt fine. I tend to be able to do a lot of reps with a weight and there being a bit drop off as weights increase. I took the brief respite from taking the weights off to setup for bench to get in a meal of instant oatmeal. Work had got a little hectic in the afternoon and my eating schedule was off and I didn’t want to eat something right before doing log work with being bent over. I shouldn’t have issues with benching with a little food. I haven’t really done regular benching. Technically this was listed as close grip but hands touching the smooth is wider than my usual grip for close grip. I seem to really want to make it close as opposed to a “closer” grip. The angle felt a little odd to my left shoulder. But it has been feeling odd with push ups too and been fine with the implement pressing. Just had me a little concerned there. Plan was working up to a set of 8-10 reps. Leave reps in the tank. Like the rows, plan was 225lbs. I wasn’t going to deviate from that as this was fine and if I felt terrible, I’d stop at 8 reps. I don’t know, maybe putting on the wrist wraps got me to tighten up or something as felt fine that set. I did notice that this grip did actually allow me to tuck and use my lats. Put stuff away before cooking up dinner. Stretched afterwards.

November 8, 2023 – Week 2, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats
45x10
95x8
135x5
185x10

18” Jack Stand Pulls w/ bands (straps, +50/+100)
135x5
225x3
315x2
EMOM
405x1
405x1
405x1
405x1
405x1

Ab Wheel
bwx10

Stretching
 
Comments: I’m in an odd place. It has felt like Thursday this whole week. Probably just from how the hour shift messing with things. It’s not fun having it be pitch black outside right after getting off the clock or having Mr. Sun cutting through the blinds before I’m supposed to be up. But besides that, body stuff. Feeling aches in the left hip from the work put in from Saturday and the log work Monday. Bruises on my forearms from the log cutouts. But skin on the left forearm from zercher stuff is healing well. I may need to tape for future sessions. Knees aren’t feeling terrible that I feel I have to go downstairs backwards if a few steps. There is a “fullness” in my knee joints that has been missing for a good bit. Felt like this since Saturday session. Has kind of felt like no cartilage stuff. But who knows with the demands I’m asking of myself. A Pro/Am show finally announced the weights and I didn’t even really have time to process it before the show sold out. It wasn’t going to be a go for me with the log weight for the lightest implement being 20lbs over my best (and it would be at elevation, which never been). The other events seemed fine enough, if not heavy. But that’s me, just looking at stuff and keeping my finger on the pulse when I got a competition I’m gearing up for. Thinking long term as always. This workout was likely going to be the easiest session of the prep. It could also be the shortest without being a deload session. But not short enough to safely do during lunch in a way that was meaningful. I’m sure I could make it work but might as well keep things consistent. Warming up seemed to go well. I stopped thinking so much on the knees out with the box squatting and that seemed to feel decent on the knees. Left shoulder still aches but at this point, it seems like it will keep doing that. Aches don’t mean I won’t have a good day/session. I was very surprised with how sore my lat inserts for the armpits were from just a little bit of rowing on Monday. First thing as front squats. Nothing fancy. Work up to something that was easy for 8-10 reps (suggested 50%) that didn’t bother my knees. Get good ROM and blood flow. I did a little more mobility work to get my ankles mobile enough that my tight lower legs weren’t hampering things. Might need to do that for next week’s lower body session so that I’m not so stiff on deadlifts. This should be easy with the suggested 185lbs but I needed to clarify if it was to be 50% of max as being the important part or if the suggestion of that percentage was just to make sure it was something comfortable. My squatting max is definitely down so likely closer to 165lbs would be more likely since haven’t pushed heavier squats. But it seems that wasn’t the important part and just something that would be good. Knees were a little stiff and usually it is more just getting warmed up that has things feeling good for front squats. Rarely do my knees feel bad on full depth front squats. Usually in the past few sessions with front squats (especially when I’ve taken a break from them), the bar feels odd and my knees ache unracking. Not this time. I think that is from doing the zercher carries. I’ve heard someone refer to a zercher squat as a low bar front squat so maybe on to something there haha. There was relief with that top set going so well. I felt like I could do 20 reps or more with the weight. Got to take advantage of those times when squats feel enjoyable. Then on to deadlift work. This could’ve been expedited by doing the front squats outside and then having things already setup for pulls. But I felt it made more sense to give myself some break pacing wise and so I could get some fluids down. The pull for this time was to be rack pulls against bands (75-100lbs tension). Notes were to warm up and do 5x1 EMOM style with the bar height being 1” below my knee cap. I do have a power rack but the jack stands are much easier to setup with bands with how I have things setup in the garage. I also got these long knee joints in appearance due to Osgood-Schlatter from when I did wrestling and had a rapid growth spurt so bony nubs right below my knees. So I treat below the nub as where the “below knee” is. Which means that apparently 18” fits that bill. As to why this height, so that the shins were straight like finishing a pull. Setup takes a bit for the banded pulls due to moving stuff around. This tension didn’t require much to anchor. Working on bracing here as well. Trying to get myself moving well. First two weights felt like nothing. Then started to feel like something with the addition of more weight. It has been a while since I’ve done EMOM for pulls so I wasn’t sure where I used to hang the timer and not have it get in the way. I went with shirt collar. These went well. Last thing was just a single set of ab wheel. 5-10 reps with bodyweight and not to overdo it on the ROM. I could’ve jumped right into this but decided to put away the stuff I had at as rest and then did the set. I know how deceptive these can be when not done in a while as far as soreness in the lower abdominals. These were quite easy and hopefully I don’t feel the sting of DOMs later as these weekend sessions are going to be vicious affairs to get ready for the competition. Put stuff away and stretched before cooking up dinner.

November 11, 2023 – Week 2, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Arm-Over-Arm Pulls (turf)
(standing, arms only) 225x50’
(seated, arms only) 350x50’
(seated, competition style) 560x50’ in 24.58 Seconds

Stone of Steel Loads (54”)
140x1
210x1
EMOM
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1
278x1

Stretching
 
Comments: I was feeling pretty good with things as far as the week and with how my body was feeling. Air quality was poor Thursday and had to take some nasal spray to help with that. Not sure what I did that day in the afternoon but my right knee was feeling achy. Being off work for holiday observance was I guess needed. It had felt like the end of the week all week and I crashed pretty hard I guess when I finally made myself go to sleep Thursday. I woke up initially due to allergies at like 6AM and then went back to sleep. I didn’t think I was going to sleep for another almost 7hrs more. So woke up just before 1PM and having to get a full day’s worth of food in about half the normal time. But I made it work and got everything I needed done. These weekend training sessions are quite a bit different from how the work week sessions are. There was a similarity with things during the switch in programming for Nats but it does feel like a divide this time around. Which seems to work. The weekend stuff requiring a lot time and setup and more relaxed pace. Driving out to train was fine. Was thinking maybe I should do more allergy meds as it is about that time but too late to reconsider once one the road. Good bit of people at the gym. Some usual suspects and some that haven’t been there in a while. Got some comments about looking bigger/jacked and I mentioned that I had added instant oatmeal to my diet (twice a day) and that seems to be helping me fill out again. I only had two events to train today but it would require effort and setup. Warming up felt fine with the mobility stuff. I wasn’t sure about my knees being achy but seemed fine. First things of actually training was arm over arm. I’ve not had to do this in a little over a year. Competition is a seated arm over arm on turf for 50’. Sled to be Christmas themed (as in pulling Santa’s sleigh). Notes had been in tire but it does appear to be on the ground. Brings it’s own hassles with setup. With no ego, I say I’m one of the best at this event in the country so I don’t really need much in the way of work on it. I only did it twice for Nationals last year when I won and I didn’t even go that heavy. I’ve done both actual weight on turf as well as using the exergenie and both are good. I think with how short this prep is going to be where I’m likely only getting two touches on this that doing this with a sled setup on turf makes more sense so that I can get a better visual of the distance and timing vs if I were to just be pulling until I hit a marker with my hand doing the exergenie. I’ve not actually gotten to do a contest with arm-over-arm with Mike. There was an attempt in 2019 but I withdrew (I was prepping for 3 shows at a time) due to relapse of back pain. Usually I just train like 2-3 sets at something challenging and call it there because it can be a pain to reset and it is quite exhausting. Mike seems to like doing arm over arm with one top set but working to it in variations to get different parts worked. In order to facilitate this being as close to contest, I used the Jenkins sled and brought in my 75’ length of 1.5” manilla rope. First set was standing and bent over like a truck pull and working the arms for hand speed. I initially had 350lbs on it as I misread what I did last time with this when I had to do 93’. It wasn’t exactly budging so dropped it down to 225lbs and that was still bit harder than I’d have liked. I was thinking I had done 295lbs last time and maybe the setup was tougher. Nope, I had only done 165lbs last time so this was good haha. Took a bit to setup for the next variation in that it was seated but not doing full body. Still just arms really. Would need someone to eat the rope for this since it would pile up on me. Added back the dropped weight here for this run. I was slightly concerned with how things would feel on the midsection as those darn ab wheels really have a lasting soreness in the lower abs. I had meant to film the first variation but apparently didn’t hit record so I didn’t bother with this one. This is more warming up really and the top set would be the one that mattered. Full body. Notes to not kill myself here. This took a bit longer to get ready not because I wasn’t ready to go but I noticed my stone of steel was still loaded with weight and this was because it had gotten stuck and someone had just left it. So that took some effort (I needed it for later but also wanted to use it for weight in the sled) and then I had to track down the missing spacers. But I found them finally so all well and good. No weight is listed for the sled at the comp but says heavy and that weight listed would probably not make sense or matter. I’d say 700lbs is probably about where things are going to be based off how things went in 2022. So I decided to do 80% of that this time around with plan of getting it at least under 40 seconds but preferably under 30 seconds. A little out of practice for this but it went well and even with a few missteps I managed to get under 25 seconds here. So that was good. I guess I’ll need to go heavier next time to get into the right effort range. Stone work after that. This was what I was most nervous about really for this week of training. The event is stone over bar with no assistance beyond chalk and done as stone off style like at WSM. So back and forth until you can’t with another athlete and then someone else steps in to take their place. I’ve not done this variation before and my thinking is I need to work on getting used to repeated effort. I shouldn’t be a concern as far as strength with peaking no tacky stones for Nationals (but still some sticky) considering that the weight is 277lbs. So the bright idea suggestion was to use the stone of steel and do 20 minute EMOMs to get myself conditioned. And Mike seemed to like that idea so here we are. But of course doing my own thing with making the load height 2” higher than competition because. I really wasn’t sure how this would go. Notes indicated to get as close to contest weight as I felt comfortable with at this time. Which was going to be contest weight. I wanted to see if bare skin worked here as well and if the applications of isopropyl spray and liquid chalk would combo sweat enough. That first rep I felt like I made a huge mistake as it didn’t feel super easy and I had 19 more to go. The second lift was not a confidence builder as I tried to grab as it lay and the plateloaded stone gets off balance. Once I decided to position it the same each time it wasn’t that bad. Just having to make sure that I was really crushing with arms and pecs, something I feel I wasn’t doing as well as I should when it was Nationals. The benching and back stuff should help there as well. Only took a few sets in before the mess up on the second lift was erased and I was recovering fine between the singles. Really it was the sweat as my body got warmer that became the issue as I went. I may need to tape up the forearms to minimize that. Considering I did contest weight here, I may need to adjust things as far as maybe rest period next time around as the rest period will shrink I guess after 10 lifts for an athlete. Hopefully I’m not too sore in the upper body by the time Monday rolls around. Home to get in some food and stretch.