April 7, 2024 - April 13, 2024 - Week 17

 April 8, 2024 – Week 17, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses
Clean Every Rep
100x5
130x3
Clean Once
160x2
190x2
220x2
240x2

12” Log Push Presses
240x2
240x2
240x2
240x5

Chest Supported Barbell Rows
135x5
185x5
225x5
Added Straps
275x5
320x5

Bench Presses
45x15
95x8
135x5
185x2
225x2
250x5
250x5

Stretching
 
Comments: It was good to have that slight break from work with the day off Friday for family outing. Felt like I had an extra day with that. Over 291lbs now in bodyweight. At this point, I guess not surprised that the number increases even if I don’t hit all the planned meals. Maybe metabolism is slowing down. As long as it is no more than 2lbs a week, I think I can handle that and keep up with my conditioning and comfort. Warming up was fine for training. I could tell I was feeling last week training still. Have some contact bruises on the left biceps. Log to start out the training. I knew that this wouldn’t be as easy as axle was from the week before with the 20lbs jump in the top double. Especially since the sandbag shouldering was stressing similar things as far as the pick and lap and there is some effort needed of the shoulders and upper back to place with the style I’m doing. But also just with how rack work in general feels with log. Also don’t have the usual warming up with soft belts and I think that log tends to be more temperamental with that as far as the clean with rolling up. Same plan as it has been with essentially 30lbs jumps up to a top double and then out of the rack work from there. I had a brain fart with the first warming up set as I forgot it was to be clean every rep and did one clean and five presses. Upon realizing that, I proceeded to then do four cleans to make up for it. I got it right at least for the next set. As per usual, knees are achy at the start but start to get better as I go. 220lbs didn’t feel quite as easy as last time but I was also not trying to be as hyped and not wearing the same support stuff (saving for the top double). I was really hoping that 240lbs would feel just as easy for the press. Going from no belt to a belt definitely was a bit jarring on the clean leading up to this. I had a little issue with balance before going for that first rep (I think more the footing on the patio) and it was ok pressing wise but kind of hoped it felt similar to 220lbs. But it was smooth enough. Then right into rack work. Of the two overhead lifts, log is the more likely candidate to have this work be reduced in weight from the clean and press. Just never feels great out of the rack. I will say that getting the rack height right does seem to be slightly helpful in making it not feel so off. I was worried that I’d need to drop this weight (I had stuff set aside just in case) but figured it was best to see if I could get some volume in at 80% of contest weight. It has been a little strange having weight out of the rack feel heavy on my legs but I still get it moving. Definitely noticing these are more effort compared to axle same weight out of the rack. My dad stopped by to drop off some things between that first double and the second. Second I forgot that I don’t walk these out so that was a little distracting. I was not sure if I was going to go for a set of five reps on that last set. But the third double felt better and I took 30 seconds more rest (was doing like 90 seconds) and got a decent set of five reps. Certainly less reps in the tank than before and less than compared to axle same weight last week. Again, this could be from the increased sandbag to shoulder stuff. Could also be from having to hold up a garage door overhead for a bit after training Saturday when my parent’s broke. Feeling fatigue in the shoulders and upper back. This isn’t unexpected from the big jump in weight progression from the previous weeks. This was what was likely the toughest thing for the session. I put away some weights but I didn’t want to do what I did last time with taking a big halt in training to put it all way to then do the garage work. So I did like half of it and then got to work in the garage. Chest supported rows to start off. And still sets of 5 working up to top set of 5 reps. With no end in sight it seems haha. So plan is to keep chipping away with adding 5lbs as I can. With the log work and just noticing the soreness in the left biceps with the contact bruising, I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t having any issues with rows today. Sometimes the biceps aren’t happy with me after the sandbag to shoulder and the log. 40-50lbs jumps was the plan and then see how things feel after two plates when I switched to straps. I was giving myself the option of 265-275lbs for the first strapped set and then 320-325lbs for the top set depending on how things were feeling. I was already leaning towards 320lbs just with how I was feeling after log and it seemed a safer bet. But I went with the heavier option as it will make more sense for the next time I do these with another 50lbs jump after that. Definitely feeling like I’m pushing these but I can eek out a little more next time as it’s about the same weight. Benching to end the day. Weight has been decreased to keep the bar speed up and I think also to not have things be so taxing with the increased demand on the event specific overhead stuff now. So dropped down 20lbs and it looks like still 2x5 but with 5lbs jumps like incline log has now. For the life of me, I was having issues with consistency working up with having the upper back braced. I think that had to do with the fatigue with the sandbag stuff. It didn’t feel like it did that much when I did it but noticing it this day. I do feel I got it figured out by the time I got to the working weight. This is probably the first time in a good while that 185lbs didn’t feel heavy on my wrists for the unrack. 225lbs decided to be that weight this time. So with the first working set, it felt light in my hands but I was inconsistent and sloppy. It moved fast but I wasn’t thrilled with that. I can’t be having it like that as being fast and loose could mean injury at some point. During my rest I recalled something I had heard in the past two days about speed work doesn’t mean the set is fast but that the concentric is. I also tend to slow down the set with benching as I fatigue to keep from misgrooving. And when I’ve done floor pressing with chains for speed work I also took a momentary pause at lockout to break up the set into singles rather than reps. So I did that for the second set and that seemed to solve my issue I was having. The reps were pretty much identical and felt fast despite the set taking about 2 seconds longer. So I’m still putting things into use and remembering stuff. Put stuff away and then ate dinner before stretching out.

April 10, 2024 – Week 17, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats
45x10
95x8
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x2
315x2

13” Suited Jack Pulls (straps)
No Suit
135x5
225x3
Added Suit (multi-ply)
315x2
405x2
495x2
565x1
615x5

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
15+25x45 seconds

Crunches
bw+25x30

Lying Leg Raises
bwx30

Stretching
 
Comments: I was still feeling stiff and sore from Monday training, which was already predicated on soreness and stiffness I was feeling from Saturday training. I didn’t think that doing 4 total reps over 300lbs on sandbag to shoulder would have me feeling this beat. But again, could just be the cumulative fatigue of heavy pulls and doing things outside of the comfort zone. Could also be the sandbag building stuff. 20lbs is a pretty big jump with the upper body weights as well. As far as things, it was mostly upper body that was feeling it. So any worries for today were going to be from them being able to support for the lower body. I was reconsidering the weight gain Tuesday walking as it was feeling a bit more tiring than usual. Turns out that’s because the temperature increased by 10 degrees from when I got up and started walking so it was close 80 degrees haha. Mobility work was fine, no issues there. Besides upper body being stiff. Right knee was feeling achy so wasn’t too thrilled about that. Again, I couldn’t really trust the weather and it was kind of 50/50 with rain. So even though it said no rain expected for the next 2hrs, I decided to keep training inside the garage today. I think mostly due to ease of switching gears on the two barbell exercises and figuring out stuff. Front squats as has been the case. I had gotten new j-hooks for the rack that were a bit sturdier. I kind of wanted to see how they felt on this as benching isn’t exactly the best way. The other thing with front squats this time around was that this wasn’t really pushing it so to speak. Matched my lifetime PR double last session but this session was deemed more a “deload”. And by deload, still doing 315lbs for a double. It is 50lbs less. I’m not sure if just a little decrease as treat or if giving a little recovery for the knees/legs with upping the weight on the overhead with leg drive or to see how suited pulling was going to go. I think my dilemma here was how I wanted to proceed with working up and warming up. I got new rehband stuff but it is a bit thicker and snug compared to the decades old worn in stuff I left at the gym by mistake. It fits a little different. I didn’t want to wear it for log clean and press Monday because the belt combo and tightness are not the same and I didn’t want to mess with that. And I had found that belt tightness was pretty important when it comes to breathing and the front squats for me. So I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go naked and then hard belt only after 225lbs or if I wanted to do the sturdier soft belt only. I eventually elected to do the first option. My right knee was achy so that was distracting and annoying. I know that it can be weather related as well as cumulative stress from lifting. For whatever reason, it usually seems to shut up when I put on or add midsection support. This was probably the least awful 275lbs has felt going from 225lbs. I was trying to not get super hyped up for this double but I also didn’t want to be too blasé about it as to make it be tough. It doesn’t need it and I wanted to save the energy for suited pulls. It did feel tougher than I would’ve liked but video says bar speed was smooth. So I guess I accomplished what I meant to here. So tear down and getting ready for suited pull work. Initially not suited pull work as the plan was still decreasing height of the pull and doing a set of 5 reps. But seeing as how I was trying a new suit out (that was multi-ply) with a different rigging system, it makes sense to give time to break in the suit and get used to it. So still decreasing the height and set of 5 reps but now with a suit. I kind of knew what to expect with suit work but I am like 20lbs more than I was when I last put on a suit. No suit for the first two sets working up. I was thinking of using the briefs but I was 30lbs heavier than I last used those and it seemed like way too much effort for just two warm up sets so scrapped that. Even though it was only about 70, I had three fans going because I know how much I exert on suited work and need to keep cool and hopefully not sweat so damn much. Pulls were feeling easy and then time for the suit. I can’t get the suit straps to be very tight by myself as I can slide them on and off by myself. Which is fine for training alone and means I have some tightness I can add at competition. Despite the straps not being that tight, I am able to make the rest of the suit tight and keep the legs from riding up with the rigging system of threads. It was a challenge getting to the elevated bar. Really had to fight my legs in. Probably didn’t help that I couldn’t roll the bar in with being on the stands haha. Moved like nothing but so uncomfortable. I added a belt for the next set. This was testing out a different kind of belt since my other hard belts were too small with this thick a suit to work. It provides compression and something to brace on but isn’t as thick I guess. But I felt I could breathe well. I was getting better at getting down to the bar each set. Definitely started to feel heavy at 495lbs and could tell the suit was fighting me with staying in position. I was feeling really good with 405lbs and was thinking of doing like 635lbs for the top set (suggested was 585-605lbs). But I knew it wasn’t wise to do that after 495lbs so did a single with 565lbs to hopefully get ready for a top set. It was ok but didn’t instill confidence. I was also not really able to check video here as I was keeping the session recording so I could see it back later with this being the first session in this suit. Perhaps I was biting off a bit too much with going for 615lbs. I felt like I had to do more than what I was doing without the suit for it to matter. I know that isn’t the case when starting out. But my deadlifting has been feeling stronger since the hamstring pull that I was feeling like I could hit a PR at the competition. I got set and had stuff chalked up and went for it. I managed the five reps. As with suit work, it feels heavy but moves well. There was fatigue going for that last rep and I was close to having to hitch the last bit to get my hips through. I’d say this went well for first time with this suit. It was good to get out of the suit to finish up the session. My hamstrings, glutes and quads were sore. Hyper bench work as per usual but back to getting to use more than just bodyweight for resistance. The usual back extensions to warm up. Felt good and needed. I could feel the fatigue in my glutes and hamstrings from the effort put in on the suited pulls today. Like last week, the name of the game was hold for time but stop 10 second short of failure. Same weight on the neck harness but 5lbs more added to weight held in the row position. I knew that I may be pushing things here just with how sore the hamstrings were feeling. It was feeling like 20-30 seconds but I got through that initial period and got into the 40’s before calling it. My self counting was actually accurate this time around. From there, weighted crunches. I decided to go up to 25lbs this time. Plan being 30 reps but 25 reps was ok too. I was kind of surprised that 5lbs felt like a big increase here. It could be that my abs were also having to fight very hard while in the suit (which is why braced breathing from full contraction planks helps). Breaking up into chunks got me through it as I was feeling run over. The lying leg raises were actually pretty good comparatively. Maybe visualizing that I’m not just lifting up but that the motion is like the crunch in that an arc motion was helping with getting the feel right. Cooked up dinner and then put away stuff before eating and then stretching.

April 13, 2024 – Week 17, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (16’)
30x1
32.5x1
35x1
37.5x1
40x1
42.5x1
45x0 (miss)
45x1
47.5x1 PR+2.5lbs

Yoke/Frame Carries
(50’ run back, 5’ run up, 18” pick)
300x50’/280x50’
400x50’/380x50’
500x50’/480x50’
600x50’/580x50’
650x50’/630x50’ in 27.88 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Rain had been off and on the past two days and it was such that the sky was so thirsty that often the dampness from the rain was evaporated before you really had a chance to check on the rain. Which worked out well for me as I definitely needed the walking around to get my back loose and my knee joints to feel ok. Not a ton of bruising from the suit in the spots it was on but there was a large one (still present) right above my left knee. But I don’t think that is really “suit” related. Trying to keep a healthy distance with work and life this week. I can tell just from this week that I perhaps need to get a little more rest. I figured it made more sense to go to bed then stay up to get everything done for the morning then stay up and sleep in. It would behoove me to get out to train sooner rather than later because while the things to do weren’t many, they were going to be more time intensive this go around. Windy as a bastard out today but the drive out was fine. I arrived at the gym and saw that the band was not connected anymore so I was going to have to fix that before I started. There were some people training today but I’m not sure if it is really anything toward a particular contest. There are some people that are competing next weekend I believe (so another at home session next Saturday). Warming up felt mostly fine. I got a little distracted and ended up doing some stuff out of the usual order. Up first was bag toss. A bit different from what I’ve been doing here. It has been for the most part just EMOM singles with a set bag weight. Sometimes two clusters broken up. But this time the plan was to work up to a conservative max with 2.5lbs jumps. In the past when it was several bags working up, I’d just do 5lbs jumps with the variety of bags available. I had bought last year three 5lbs sandbags to adjust weight as well (and to get the heaviest bag up to 75lbs if needed). I didn’t have 2.5lbs but as luck would have it, my busted up 2.5lbs plate that was held together with duct tape was not holding up anymore so I wrapped that in duct tape and it came out almost exactly that. Now the suggested plan was start at 30lbs and increase 2.5lbs and rest as needed. Contest is 15’. But I know with tosses that I’m not so good with calling what is and is not a max effort on them. So I figured that going for a max to 16’ should for all intents and purposes be also a conservative max for 15’. I had an easier time with the toss tower this time around with adjusting so that is good to know as I do intend to lower it the next time for 15’. With increasing weight each toss, I felt it didn’t make a ton of sense to do warming up tosses and such as I was starting so light and it seemed to work out fine with doing no warm up last weekend. I am feeling more fatigue in the lower back and such with the increasing weights on deadlift events as well as the weights being clean and pressed and sandbag to shoulder. So there was some worries that I’d be too fatigued to put in a good effort. But I had managed to get 5 good tosses with 45lbs two weeks ago. It is a bit tricky with rest and being good to go with adjusting the weights. I’m glad the 2.5lbs weight didn’t break or cause damage to the bag. Once I got to two of the 5lbs bags in there with the 2.5lbs weight, I had to empty them out and then load up the sand I had brought in bucket to load up so I could go heavier. I was also gradually adding support gear to midsection (soft belts were there so now I got two of them). I think the down time from getting the weights out and then putting in the sand resulted in my initial miss at 45lbs. My arc was off and it had height but it came down on my side. Without eyes on it, I can’t tell sometimes so I checked the video to make sure it was a miss and then went again and just got it over. It wasn’t exactly looking like this was the day to try and hit a PR. But I went and did it anyway. And I barely got it but it went over. This had been my goal to hit to that height this cycle (but ideally for a few singles). The rest of the session was going to arduous with the event itself and setting up. Usually I just have a break between events to get a little swig but with how this was, I ended up getting two decent drinks down. This was the time to do medley work for Regionals. Yoke 50’ and then run back to the start and do frame carry for 50’. And also with a 5’ run up to the yoke. A lot of moving and lot of trying to make up time with going fast on things I tend to like to take my time with and brace. So the plan was to start with “empty” implements and do 100lbs jumps on each. Initially I was looking at doing what I had been doing with the frame doing makeshift and then swapping to the big frame after 476lbs or so. But I realized that it was going to be a time vampire and equipment hogging as I’d need to have stuff setup for outside since I can’t do the big frame inside so I’d be using two yokes and a set of farmer’s if I didn’t tear down right away. So I decided that it probably made more sense to use the makeshift frame for everything as it was 1” lower than contest implement and a little more open so closer to simulate the transitions. But I didn’t factor in other people using the lanes and unfortunately, this requires two lanes. So my hopes of doing this inside so I didn’t need to hand truck and carry a bunch of weights and implements outside were dashed upon the rocks of other peoples ignorance. But not seriously, I can’t monopolize the equipment and space. So since it took up a lot of time/effort to get things setup outside, I forwent the usual “empty” and “casual” runs as kind of had to do that a bit here. That first run, my knees were pretty stiff and I could tell I needed to lower the pick for the yoke by one notch due to the uneven pavement. Frame felt good. Making sure to practice that run up and not rush things as that was surprisingly tricky two years ago at Regionals. The 100lbs jumps were more noticeable on the frame vs the yoke because of the pick and wider grip. I don’t think I’ve actually attempted more than 480ish on this setup of frame before. I was also testing to see if my newer belts worked well for support and breathing and mobility here. My options with the top set were to do between 50lbs under contest weight both implements to contest weight. The ego would like to do contest weight but I figured that the lower end made the most sense as this was the first time and I know the running back was going to be adding to things as well as again not really pushing this particular frame and feeling beat from increasing weights leading up. I know I probably have two more shots at this besides today and those can be contest. I’ve done under contest weight before and hit PRs for contests. I got Andrew to time and give commands for the top run. Timing hasn’t really mattered until this point anyways. Yoke went pretty well I think. The shove and go probably the best thing for the transition as likely rubber matting. I can be quicker on the run back. I think there was some hesitancy in the run back to mentally prepare for the pick on the frame as it had felt pretty tough on the weight before. I can’t rush this pick for frame. I’d say not bad and hopefully I can make contest weight feel like this next time. I made sure to cool down and eat something before I spent a long time putting everything away before driving home to eat some more and stretch.