January 7, 2024 - January 13, 2024 - Week 4

January 8, 2024 – Week 4, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x10
130x8
160x5
190x3
220x2
255x3
242x5

Band Assisted Pull-ups
abx5 at pin 12
abx5 at pin 15
abx5 at pin 18
abx5 at pin 21
abx5 at pin 24

Axle Strict Presses
90x2
112x2
139x2
166x2
166x2
166x2
166x2
166x10

Standing Axle Lockouts
166x3 seconds
193x3 seconds
226x3 seconds
256x3 seconds
286x3 seconds
306x3 seconds
326x3 seconds
346x3 seconds
366x16 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Over cold but still dealing with some stuff from being sick. Weight down slightly from the week before. But still over 276lbs. First decrease in about 3 months at this point. Not even half a pound so not really worried about that. Just noting. Sunday I let the weather do the work for me as far as waiting until it was the warmest part of the day to shovel snow so most of it had melted already. Still meant I had to do some stuff though with the packed snow from the heavy rain. Work continues to be dumb and I’m potentially stressing about things but not realizing it. Hard to tell if stuff from being sick or stress. Felt a little odd with training as it was dark out and I guess remembering this is the first session true upper body session where I wasn’t doing stuff during the daytime. Another holiday coming up next Monday so I’ll be back to that again but then nothing but darkness going forward. Mobility stuff per usual was fine. Was feeling surprisingly good. Wore my warm ups at the start of things. I did end up doing some of this outside rather than all inside as I didn’t need the rack inside for anything this session. Starting off with log incline benching. This is where I made mistakes this session. I knew from last time that I was perhaps going to aggressive at this. My hope I guess had been to do 15lbs jumps each session on this as that does seem to be workable for some exercises when I’m coming back to it or peaking. I need to know this is not the case with pressing. Plan had even been to do more reps at the start and pyramid up and do 10lbs more than last time. I don’t what it was here but I wasn’t feeling like that would be a bridge too far for me. I actually went up 5lbs from the plan. Which in hindsight was dumb. I was feeling decent warming up but that is a false sense of security I’m finding with incline type benching exercises. First rep was tough but then I seemed to be having things move smoother for the next rep and I thought maybe I got this. Third rep about the same. Fourth rep went out in front and nope. Had to bail and set it down. Damn it. Awkward to get it off and then having to pick it back up with 180lbs on it to rack it. That felt heavy. Because I didn’t want to end things here. I was to do a top set of 5 that wasn’t a max and that is what I was going to do. So 2lbs more than last time. I got it but obviously it was tougher than it should’ve been after all is said and done. I will likely need to aim for 245lbs next time. I don’t like failing weights at any time. Another reminder that just putting on weight isn’t going to magically fix the upper body pressing situation. This is going to take time and be a struggle it seems. In further hindsight, I probably should’ve started with 220lbs the first week and I could be progressing at a better pace. Lesson learned going forward. I tend to feel better when I’m not grinding any lifts. So this was not an ideal start to the training session for sure. The other stuff should be better for me. There has always been that “dead zone” situation on incline benching, just less apparent with log compared to other styles. Keep going, stay focused and don’t let it wear you down. You are already feeling that from getting over illness. After that mild disappointment, it was band assisted pull-ups. Sets of 5 reps like last time. This one I had listened when it came to that first workout back from the competition so I shouldn’t have an issue here with improving. What I’ve been doing has been the 3 pin jumps to the essentially the bottom of the rack for the last set. I was advised that I could even keep these the same as I did last time or make things a little tougher. With how these are, I felt what made the most sense as far as adding difficulty would be to decrease the strength of the band. Been using a strong band so using an average band would be the next level really. Left shoulder was feeling slightly achy but actually ended up feeling better on these as I went. Using the crash pad at the higher settings until not as tricky to step into the setup. These do feel a bit weird in that how the bands assist and help does seem to change as you lower the band height. I do tend to try and move through these a bit quicker due to the setup but make sure I give that top set the attention it needs. Definitely could notice on the last set the lower band assistance. But I still feel this was within the parameters. Likely lower the tension again if this pops up to light band but no further. Bands get too thin at that point and cut into the legs at my weight. Axle strict pressing was up next. The second half the pressing for the workout. Warm up as needed and do 5x2 at 65%. This was at least the plan here. I ended up using a little more than that as it was easier platemathwise with things to go like 3lbs heavier. There was a little bit of a thought in my head about the incline stuff (as well as the log feeling heavy when I racked it after I had to bail) and tried my best to blot that out but I know it was there. These had been ok like time albeit with lighter weight. My shoulders hadn’t been quite used to things and it showed in the soreness going into the rest of the week. No hard belt again at this point. Things felt a little more comfortable as far as bracing/grounding and unracking the weight. It was definitely noticeable that there was fatigue here and that this was more weight than last time. Again, on the last set, I was allowed to rep it out if I was feeling good. And again, I don’t know if I was necessarily feeling good. If I did, leave 1 rep in the tank. I was almost worried that 5 reps would feel tough and thankfully it did not. This was tougher than that first session and definitely stopped at closer to the limit than the last time. 10 reps was not a max here. Last thing was lockout workout. Leaving right where the strict pressing left off. Not quite I guess as I did have to adjust the rack for these. I had done 20lbs jumps doing 3 second holds up to the top weight. And I had ended up using a bit more than I was expecting. I did ask for some clarification on this because I had done about 350lbs for both and that is well over my current maxes for both (also more than 10% over lifetime bests). As the notes was to be aiming for a minute with a heavy weight. Should I be still pushing the weight and time or just focus on time. Answer is kind of both. This goal isn’t specific to this competition or this offseason. So as long as I can still do 20-30 seconds, I should be increasing for now and then work from there. I didn’t want to be here all night so I did 30lbs jumps until I got to 286lbs and then back to 20lbs. My lower legs were feeling a little stiff and I could tell that sometimes my balance wasn’t the best. Like I’d struggle and add 30lbs and feel solid and so on. I did remember from the last time about my breathing. I need to brace to lock it out but I need to be able to breath or I will get lightheaded. I had a goal with 366lbs as that is the weight of the Apollon’s Axle. I got set for this and it seemed to go up solidly and my breathing wasn’t off. But I guess that isn’t the only thing. This is heavy for me. I just couldn’t keep my upper back and shoulders and whatnot tight enough and the weight started to lower. So calling it about 4 seconds shy. I guess understandable considering the big increase in the weights being used for the deadlifts and the frame carry (as feeling those still in upper back). I’ll have to see how the cards lie I guess next time to see if I reduce weight to try and get back into that range. Put stuff away and stretched before eating pot roast. Need to rest.

January 10, 2023 – Week 4, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Wide Grip Deadlifts w/ Hip Circle (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x2
315x2
365x1
405x1
430x5

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
10+45x39 seconds

Planks
bw+42x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: No walking the day before. It rained hard all day. There was to be a brief break in it but I never saw it haha. My time was better spent working through lunch to try and get caught up on things. I was slightly concerned after the previous workout as it seemed like my left elbow bursitis was acting up but it seems to be fine the morning after and into today. Still got some remnants from the stress on my body from the cold with fever blisters still fading away as well as some fluttering eye twitches. I did purchase a new deadlift suit but likely won’t be months until I see it knowing the manufacturer’s reputation. I still have my other suit which will be fine. Especially since likely won’t be needing to work that until March if my assumptions are correct. Mobility stuff to start things off. Similar to how it felt yesterday. Minus being outside in the cold. It was warm enough yesterday and today that almost all the snow is gone. So no warm ups needed in the garage to get warm. No tight or inflamed shoulder tendons so that is a positive. Not so say that I’m not having soreness in the upper body from Monday. Also did ankle/knee/hip stuff because that seems to help with floor pulls and especially things like these wide grip pulls. I only needed to do one drill each side to feel as good a limber as I was going to. So that was nice. As I mentioned, wide pulls for this workout. Goal was to go slightly heavier then last time as far as the top set of 5 reps. But given a little more leeway here as far as doing sets of 1-3 reps to work up to that. Last time I did these, 135lbs did not feel comfortable. It felt awkward and difficult. Essentially being the first time using the hip circle on top of not doing this movement in many years. Today was not much better haha. Knees were aching so it was not the best start to things. Didn’t help still somewhat fixated on the incline log and being shy of 20 seconds on the overhead lockout hold from Monday. But I knew last time it didn’t feel that great and then it felt pretty good after that before getting difficult again. My plan was to do 40-50lbs jumps and dropping reps off every two sets. Something seemed to finally click for me on these on that very next set. Why don’t I angle my feet out with my knees? Duh. Seemed to take the knee discomfort away and I felt like I was getting the hips loaded. Up to two plates for the triples and then up to three plates for doubles. I kind of knew what to expect getting above that weight and that this could feel uncomfortable with the position and getting setup (learned from last time put the hip circle on first, then hard belt). The top weight was to be 20-50lbs more than last time. I had a feeling that I’d be doing the lower end because of how challenging 405lbs had felt last time. Singles seemed to go pretty well for me. I elected to do a 25lbs jump for the top set. So that next time I guess I have the option to go for 455lbs and not have it seem so daunting. I got set for this and went for it. Felt tough but it was about the same as last time, maybe slightly better. The open hips seemed to help me lower these better and keep the form and not end up with it being off balance. Obviously the first rep was the fastest as the other reps are essentially time under tension with slight pauses. No feeling of my knees wanting to buckle or knee discomfort. Definitely felt the hamstrings and back on this. I was pleased with how this went as it felt like this could go up this amount next time this comes around (assuming here). From there it was time for the hyper bench hold with the neck harness and plate. Warming up for it with hyper extensions. I knew this was going to be tough for the actual hold as things were feeling a bit toasty in the posterior chain. And I had seen how tough this had been the last time I did these after the wide pulls. Not to mention the hold time went down slightly when I did these last week. Not changing the weight on this until I’ve gotten over 40 seconds on this. I got set and I could tell that this was going to be a tougher time than last week. And last week had been tough and so had the last week. I think that I got distracted by my position and just how this was already feeling that at some point I miscounted my time. And I was kind of panicking because I was struggling to keep holding and was feeling like I was going to lose the brace at 20 seconds and was worried that I was under 30 seconds when it finally went. I think I held out just to potentially keep this above 30 seconds. I must have started my count late and repeated some numbers because this ended up being almost 40 seconds. Huh. So that was good. But man these are tough and not getting any easier with the increased demand from these moving events and deadlift variations. But I like it as lot of effort but low stress. Last thing then being abdominal work. On to the carpeted area for the planks. Regular weighted plank. I didn’t make the mistake of last time by drinking anything so soon to this. Swapped the dumbbells for chains and that seemed to be more comfortable on my back. No issues here with anything. Then side planks. Again, no weight. I was a little concerned here with things as last time I had kind of rushed position for the left elbow and had put a bit more pressure on there than usual. So that was kind of in the forefront of my mind after the slightly swelling in the bursitis after Monday’s session. So I started with that side and made sure I had the support where I needed it to not have any stress on it. No issues on these either. Started cooking up dinner and put stuff away. Stretched out after dinner. This was a good training session and I really need to keep my thoughts on the fact that everything is feeling good other than a single set of two assistance exercises. I have a lot of time to work out any issues.

January 13, 2024 – Week 4, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke
200x50’
300x50’
400x50’
500x50’
600x50’/50’

Sandbag to Shoulders
175x1/1
200x1/1
225x1/1
EMOM
250x1 R
250x1 L
250x1 R
250x1 L
250x1 R
250x1 L
250x1 R
250x1 L
250x1 R
250x1 L

Stretching
 
Comments: I was feeling a bit better mentally after how things had gone Wednesday workout. No issues with the lower legs on either Thursday or Friday so it was nice to get in walking without feeling like shin splints were coming. Got through another dumb week of work. Maybe knowing I had a day off Monday helped. Plan was to make it out to train a bit earlier so no hitting snooze. It rained a lot in the evening. Drive out was fine, just a good bit of water on the road as I got closer to the gym. Both owners ended up being at the gym at times and I was able to ask them about using the big frame in the coming weeks. Short of it is yes and no as they don’t want to take the winter insulation down at this time. But go ahead for inside on turf as long as I don’t damage the floor. I’ll have to see if I can make that work. But that’s for next week a the earliest. I wasn’t in last week due to the threat of the snow and it had looked a like a good bit of people were there. There had been a decent amount of people two weeks ago as well. But I don’t think I was quite expecting the turnout that was there today. There was like three separate groups of people training strongman events for stuff (either specific shows or general) with then a smattering of people training solo. One of those things with popularity increasing means more people and having to share space. Maybe avoided this by coming later but I did want to see people after missing out last week and I had wanted to potentially talk to the owners about the frame and such. This just meant waiting. Started out with the warming up routine. No real issues warming up. I’m starting to notice that the shoulders are seeming to not ache as much. The left does when doing stuff (it has been a muted thing) but like even more so. As in barely registers. First thing for this session was yoke. Work up in 50’ runs and do top set of 100’ with the 50’ down and back. 100lbs jumps here. When I did this two weeks ago, I didn’t have the weights for Regionals so I was kind of surprised that the yoke portion of the medley was going to be only 700lbs. So wasn’t quite expecting to already be in striking distance of this. I thought I’d need to be getting closer to 800lbs. Maybe I will in training as overload and in general to get used to that again (as not done above 750lbs on yoke since late 2018 in training). The people doing stuff were to do farmer’s into yoke and they seemed to be warming up with the yoke first and then doing farmer’s. I took advantage of that and used the light yoke and did runs in the other lane that was to be used for the farmer’s walk. It felt like I needed a higher pick this time around. Looked like I had the clearance as long as I didn’t go too far forward with the tilt. I feel like I went a little quicker between the sets so as to get it done and clear up the other lane for use. I did offer people to work in with me but no takers. They I guess wanted to use the bigger and sturdier yoke. I wasn’t feeling the fastest today. But I know that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I’m not timing stuff like this at the moment. Just getting the work done. It might have been the number of people there but it felt warmer and harder to breath in a way. 600lbs for the top set. This seemed to be ok. I hesitated a bit longer than I would’ve liked with the repick but I had it in a better position compared to last time where it ended up a bit higher on cervical spine. So I was done with my yoke work before just about the other five people had gotten above the warm up stage. Next was sandbag shouldering. I got to this a bit quicker I guess compared to last time as I didn’t have to put away the yoke stuff. While I was feeling a bit warm in general, I didn’t really have a good reason to take my time. As with yoke, I had just rough idea of things for this for Regionals. It will be 5 bags. Same as last time with it being light to moderate bag for form work. 5 singles each side, alternating them EMOM style. I had done 150lbs and then 25lbs jumps last time and ended up doing 225lbs when I was kind of expecting 200lbs. So it made sense since the suggested for this time was 225lbs while last time was 200lbs was to do 250lbs. I started at 175lbs and did 25lbs jumps. Looking at the bags, there is likely not many duplicates beyond 175lbs. Maybe another 250lbs bag. There are my odd weight bags of 306lbs and 336lbs there as well besides the usual 25lbs jumps from 75lbs to 350lbs. I could potentially bring my 265lbs in for next time if needed. I felt like doing the same thing as last time with doing chalk and no support gear besides knee sleeves. This was certainly harder compared to last time with 225lbs. It felt warmer so I was losing chalk pretty quick. I also was not a fan of the straps on the bags. They hadn’t bother me on the other, lighter bags last time. But they seemed to be enough of a distraction to me tactilely that it was slowing me down. You could tell there were reps where things lined up right and it was nice and explosive and others where it messed up the timing. But much like yoke, I knew this was work. I mean, I’m already doing the first bag of the series comfortably and about 4.5 months out at this point. Spun and chucked the bag when I was done on the last single. I ended up sticking around a little longer than I had planned to see two of my friends do their top runs of the medley for the March show (I also drank a shake and ate some food) and then drove home. Ate some more stretched out and then ate some more.