March 17, 2024 - March 23, 2024 - Week 14

 March 18, 2024 – Week 14, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Overhead (1 clean)
Strict Presses + Push Presses + Jerks
46x5+5+5
70x3+3+2
Push Press + Jerks
100x1+1
130x1+1
160x1+1
190x1+1
220x1+1

Axle Push Presses + Jerks
220x1+1
220x1+1
220x1+1
220x4+1

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sb+lbx5 at pin 16
ab+lbx5 at pin 16
sbx5 at pin 16
abx5 at pin 16
lbx9 at pin 16

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x10
120x5
150x3
180x2
200x1
215x5
215x5

Stretching
 
Comments: Saturday was a good session to see where things were. I was able to go fast and not feel like my hamstrings were going to tear, hit consistent PR weight and height on the bag toss and starting to get back to appreciably weight on the sandbag to shoulder. The only issue I guess besides just some slight aches in the shoulders and neck was that my lower legs were really sore. I guess that is one thing not really hit when doing the casual pace stuff for the moving events. Calves are where the after boost comes from. Assuming things still go well, I may be able to drop the rehab stuff this week or next. Also still gaining weight and I was surprised that after being at 285.8lbs for two weeks that I’d just go right back 286lbs to 287lbs. It sounds like the new deadlift suit should be ready within 3 weeks’ time. The warm weather is going away for a bit. Time to get to training. Warming up felt fine and dandy. I’m definitely getting used to the increased dynamic warm up stuff and I’m glad more often then not that that I don’t feel like my joints are aching. Axle to start off the training and seeing as how last time it went well with me pulling from the floor all the way up to the working weight, I shouldn’t have issues with this go around either. Slight adjustments to the warming up weights where I’m doing the strict pressing to start and then the other styles of overhead. I wasn’t sure how my right knee was going to feel and thankfully it wasn’t really doing anything out of the ordinary. I’m not exactly speedy on my transitions quite yet. As in going for the press after the catch on the shoulders. And certainly not from going from one style to the other. There is a delay in switch but I think it is less in that I can’t go faster and more that I’m trying to not rush things and trying to treat these like these are max weights for me. I was noticing less hesitancy in the start of the lift. But also that the shirt I picked wasn’t probably the best (but I also didn’t chalk it up). Trying to treat things in a way that I’m not stressing out. I did chalk up my shirt a little bit for the top weight just so I didn’t get thrown off if it slid down to my belt. Apparently I took this weight to be heavier than it was as I essentially pulled it all the way up to my sternum with my second pull so I was a little thrown off that it was there and not a bit lower like usual. The push press felt easy and so was the jerk but I was a little shallow I think so there was a slight press out. Don’t want that. Rack work after that with the same weight. As has been the case, complex of push press and then jerk. These were a little harder to unrack and I realized it was because I had the rack arms a setting lower than I usually have them so there was a little more squatting up than usual. But perhaps I should do that if this is to work on pressing as if I’ve cleaned the weight without cleaning the weight as I will likely catch it a little lower anyways. Once I realized that I did have the setting lower and accepted that I was fine with moving forward. Maybe a little nervous for the last set where I could do some reps. Since last time that last jerk had irritated my right knee. The push presses were fine and dandy. I took my time with the jerk and it might have been my most explosive one of the day and yeah, no knee issue this time. I forgot that last time I did this session I had cooked up a bowl of oatmeal before moving to the next thing so I got that ready and would have to wait to eat. So on to band assisted pull-ups. I kept the knee sleeves just because again and just convenience. Same as last time and for several weeks now with the 5 sets of 5 reps to a top set with 5-15 reps range. But the last session I had modified the resistance/assistance sot that I was staying at the same pin setting and swapping out band tensions. Taking what I learned from last time with the band combos, I think I got them this time that each set was getting less assistance. Trying to pull up explosively and then lower with control. I’m surprised when sometimes that working up sets will feel like maybe I should have this be the working set but then the working set feels pretty darn good. I had scraped the back of one knuckle on the concrete picking up the bumper plates and that knuckle decided to bleed a good bit. But kept it from affecting things. Managed to add a rep to the set from last time. Then I could eat my oatmeal. Last thing was log incline benching. Same as last time with 2x5 continuing. But just a 5lbs increase from last time. The warming up was slightly different and I was kind of going through it pretty quick as the weather wasn’t looking great and I felt like it. It has been giving me a peace of mind that these are moving again like they had before. No wonky shoulder stabilization and just strong and fast pressing. Like I’m enjoying the lift again and not dreading it like I was when it felt bad and I was missing lifts. Only a slight break between the sets because it started flurrying a bit and I wasn’t sure if this was the portents of another snow squall like earlier this month. It was not thankfully and I got the sets down. Put stuff away before getting out the ladder and fixing the toss tower (I’ll be needing it this Spring with gym closed some weekends coming up). Stretching followed and then eating dinner.

March 20, 2024 – Week 14, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wide Grip Jack Pulls w/ Hip Circle (straps)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
455x1
495x1
545x5

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
10+20x45 seconds

Planks
bw+53x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: This March weather is for the birds. Unpredictable. Before this week, I knew that this the coming weekends could be an issue with some things with the weather and the gym being closed for competitions. I had been hoping when I was out at the gym on Saturday that there would be a posting about the hours for Saturday to find out if it was worth it coming after the competition. Early predictions saying there was going to be rain but then checking it Monday and Tuesday it looked like it was going to be rainy a day earlier so Saturday would be fine. Now it is back to being rainy Saturday. So I’ll have to think on all my options and figure what makes the most sense. But I’ll save that for later. For when I get this workout done and see what is what. This session is the shorter of the two alternated sessions for the Day 2 lower body sessions. Because I’m only doing one heavy movement. Warming up I guess felt fine. I had done some foam rolling for my calves the day before as they were still feeling sore from Saturday. I was feeling a little tired and yawning a little while warming up. Not ideal for what I had planned here. But warming up was feeling pretty good I guess on most things. One of the last things involves a large ROM floor to overhead with some light weight and I ended up not paying attention and hit myself in the forehead. I’ve done over 1100 reps of this exercise in the past 6 months and have one rep hit my head and get a little scrape/cut. If I wasn’t awake then, I was now. Then it was time for the wide pulls. Still elevated. Same as it was the last few times, with plan to work up to a top set of 5 reps but have it be 2-3” lower. With using the jack stands, the next height would be 13”. A bit of a jump considering it has 2” last time. I was really hoping to do well here. If I hit what I wanted, I was thinking I’d drop the rehab stuff completely. So what was suggested from the past two sessions was to do 495lbs for the top set. Again I felt that my hamstring was getting better and that while I didn’t leave as much in the tank that I still left some. So hopefully that meant that I had 545lbs in me for that top set of five reps. Of course, I was not going to push it if it didn’t feel right. And it wasn’t feeling like this was the day to do it with the yawning at the beginning. The lower height felt a little different I think with the setup. My right lat was feeling pretty stiff with breaking weights off the ground so I was watching that too. But putting on the hard belt for 455lbs that sensation went away and I felt like maybe 545lbs was back on the table. But I setup for 495lbs to be the top set just in case. I got set and pulled. I knew then that 545lbs was there unless I messed up. So the bar was loaded and I got myself ready. Nice and controlled. The hamstring will hold. Do it. This was definitely challenging. I had not chalked up the straps or my wrists but it would’ve probably been a good idea as this was feeling as difficult as when I did the 570lbs rdls that one time and miscounted. It was a good bit of time under tension and required a good bit of effort. I also was having to get my air at the top of the lift so that I could do the pauses and pulls. It’s a good bit of weight pulling down and out in front. So some fighting of staying conscious. I was really worried I had miscounted and only did four reps but it turns out I got it right. This elevated cycle of wide pulls has been really helping me with building the confidence and power with this style of pull to build up the hips and hamstrings. I didn’t put weights away at this point as I wanted to get through the other stuff with some urgency so that I could eat a bowl of oatmeal and then put stuff away and stretch before dinner. Hyper bench followed that. Back extensions to get things loose. Plan was to do same weight as last time but to do 40-45 seconds. I figured I’d see how it felt as my hamstrings and glutes were really getting worked last time. These did end up feeling less taxing this time around and when the timer went for 40 seconds I just held for another 5 seconds or so before putting down. Good to see that the endurance is returning. Tried to move on to the planks after that but didn’t want to rush things too much. Same weight as it has been as this seems to be a good weight at 53lbs in the backpack. Felt fine albeit a little tough on the midsection (as expected). Side planks were fine I guess. Barely  noticing the right leg needing to support like in the past few sessions. Bracing on the left side felt tougher than usual for the upper body. Usually the midsection is harder to brace when on the right side. I guess that is why I tend to change up which side I start with. With training done, I got a bowl of oatmeal and put away plates. Then, as training at home for some of Day 3 might be the case, I did go and fix the toss tower setup with the ladder before stretching out.

March 22, 2024 – Week 14, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (16’)
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
45x1
45x1
45x0
45x0
45x1
45x0
45x0
45x1
45x0
45x0

Sandbag Rows
112x5

Sandbag to Shoulders
112x1 R
112x1 L
175x1 R
175x1 L
225x1 R
225x1 L
265x1 R
265x1 L

Stretching
 
Comments: The best laid plans. So with the adjustments to the Day 3 sessions to reduce volume of certain exercises but increase frequency added to some logistical issues. Namely with every other weekend for the next 5 weeks being with the strongman gym closed and having to deal with the weather issues was leading to some headaches. Such as figuring out other gym availability and such. One option as far as the closest gym with what I’d need for prep didn’t get back to me until Friday. The closer gym would only really be good for one thing and there isn’t enough space inside for the moving event and likely not want me using their stuff outside in the rain. And that was what the weather was saying for Saturday. Pretty much rain all day and stopping around 5pm. And if I tried to do training at the strongman gym after the competition (7pm) it was supposed to be raining out there at that time too. So I decided to deviate from my routine and do what I usually do on Saturday on Friday after work. What that would mean would be doing stuff at home and then driving out to the one gym to do stuff and then drive back home to finish up stuff. I rationalized it to myself that I’d be able to just rest all day Saturday and Sunday to make up for it. Warming up stuff had felt fine. Was feeling good and all. And that was about all that I was going to feel good on unfortunately. As mentioned last time, the plan with bag toss was to do it every weekend with 5 EMOM singles and the focus not on adding weight so much as getting form focused. I had spent time during the week to get my throwing bag to 30lbs or so and set aside the sand I took out in a separate container so that I could easily add it back in so that I wasn’t spending a lot of time. I did the usual stuff I do for warming up the 30lbs sandbag with different styles of swings and extension drills before doing the “clean pull” tosses. The first of those felt crap but the second felt right. The first actual toss got good but I didn’t get much drive out of my lower body. I think my left foot slipped a little on the mat. Plan was three tosses to get the feel and move on but the third one was so squirrely I did fourth toss that was good. Then it was time to do the working sets with 45lbs. Went for the first toss and it cleared the top of the setup barely and knocked the setup slightly apart. Which visually was irritating me as that meant the crossbar was tilting down so it wasn’t exactly 16’ uniform across the setup. I didn’t have enough time to get the ladder setup before the next toss and that one also went over fine and slightly better than the first. After this is when things went to crap. I got the setup fixed and rushed for the next toss and it was about 6” too short and arc was bad. Same thing on the next toss but the arc was shallower and it crashed down on the brace crossbar causing the right half of the uprights to come crashing down. And it looked like the fall had damaged one of the pvc attachments and I couldn’t make it have a crossbar in the short time. However, I was able to get a good toss after those two misses. But then I decided to suck. I was able to get the height but my arc was way too shallow so it was coming down right on the brace crossbar. The setup survived the first miss but the second miss was devasting as it pretty much disintegrated the joints of the setup. I was about done with myself at this point. I wasn’t even following the EMOM protocol. I just wanted to get five good tosses. I took what surviving joints I had to make something resembling a target. Which was my last good toss of the day. But it was not clearing it and it took it down with it. After two more bad tosses, I called it there. I had spent about 30 minutes with trying to get the setup fixed and whatnot and I was really frustrated. My lower back was feeling stiff and my knees weren’t cooperating with me. The every other week bag toss seems to suit me better as far as recovery goes. This didn’t feel good and felt like one of my worst bag toss sessions in recent memory. I think it also has to do with added stress but with asking more of my knees with increased frequency on the leg drive based pressing. I guess it is good I’m getting a reaction this quickly rather than a few sessions in and having to spend time figuring out what went wrong like with say doing the supports for overhead too much and heavy. I was pretty much done after the bag toss mentally. About halfway through that I had already decided I wasn’t going to bother driving to a gym to do yoke with how stiff my back and knees felt and trying in traffic there to load up weights outside and bring them back in and then driving back home to do more stuff didn’t work. I do have a yoke at home. Two actually. One is/was my base for viking press and the toss tower (though that has been destroyed and will need repairs if I’m doing it again) and the other is 90lbs empty. Both have very thin crossbars and I’d rather not deal with those when I was already feeling a certain way. But rather than completely give up, I decided I’d at least do sandbag stuff with the rows into shouldering. My plan had been to do sandbag shouldering at home this session because it would be a nice gap from 225lbs to 300lbs if that is the plan for next time. I don’t have that big a variety of sandbags but it works for this session in particular. Sandbags of 112lbs, 175lbs, 225lbs and 265lbs were to be used. I have 363lbs after that and that isn’t happening. The rows to warm up felt fine. When it comes to sandbags, I’ve been preferring the newer style with the Velcro covers vs the ones I have to seal with duct tape. That first sandbag of 175lbs felt so awful shouldering because of how floppy it is. Reminds me what I tend to skip those kinds of bags when warming up at the other gym. But perhaps it was good to have it be tougher than it should be so that I took things seriously as I went up in weight. 225lbs went better in comparison. I was taking time setting up the individuals bags between the sets but taking relatively short rests between sides. I was also tossing the bags out of the way once I finished with shouldering to both sides so out of the way and I’d be able to get the next one. Then 265lbs. Should be no problem. Should’ve. So with the other bags, I was laying them down and setting my grip beforehand but when I was going for the working weight, I was doing what I’d do in competition as likely standing upright and knocking them over to be to the side. After this session, I may need to change that because going for that pick on the first bag I felt a familiar sensation in the right hamstring. There was no pop or pain but I felt stuff shift there and I was immediately concerned but finished the rep. There was no cramping sensation like last time but I was spooked. I took a longer rest between the sides before going for the other side. There was no sensation of any  kind that time but I was a bit more deliberate with things so it was a little tougher with getting to the shoulder compared to the other side. No pain but it has me a little shook and questioning if something is wrong. Uncertain if the soreness in my hamstrings is uneven and if it is more than just soreness. It took a bit for me to get myself to calm down and eat as well as eventually stretch. I need to use these two days of rest to recover mentally and proceed with caution. I really hope it is nothing but phantoms.