May 19, 2024 - May 25, 2024 - Week 25

 May 20, 2024 – Week 23, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses (one clean)
100x5
130x3
160x2
190x2
220x2
250x2
270x2

Stretching
 
Comments: Start of the end for the training cycle. It has been a long one. And a deload is needed at this point. Even if I wasn’t competing next week. Need to take advantage of the reduced workload and get things sorted out and rest and recover with that extra time. Weight seems to be holding at about 288lbs range with the reduction in calories. Not satisfied with how sandbag work went but it was a needed wake up I think. Just wish that it didn’t give me anxiety about my hamstring. Feel it is going to be a while before that completely leaves my mind. Got some friction burns on the forearms from the different pick style so needing to use skin lotion to help with recovery for the arms and hands. Finally got to sleep in Sunday to catch up on things and have stuff slow down for a bit. Walking felt good and needed. Right knee is tense and feels like mechanical issue but I can get full extension. Another sign about cutting back on things. Events for Nationals got posted today and of course Conan’s wheel is an event. Other events are fine. I still have to qualify so not like I have something to do at this point. But see it as yet another opportunity to crack this nut. I was a little anxious for training as it was to be the last heavy overhead session before contest. And with it being a shorter session (as just warming up and log) I was tempted to do like I was doing when I was doing Nats prep and do it during my lunch break. But I tamped that down and made myself do it after work. A bit warm out so going to chalk up good and have fan going. Warming up felt fine. Nothing really stood out as an issue. Just keeping an eye on the tight hamstrings. Then time for log. And just log. The patio had been covered with stall matts after I did my last axle workout so that I wasn’t dealing with cracking pavement. Plan for log was to work up to a double at 85-90% of what I felt my max was on the day. I tend to have a hard time with “max” on the day and generally I’ll look at it as hopeful max at competition or something. Suggested was 270-280lbs. I wasn’t going to stress out about it like I found myself doing two weeks prior with log and deadlift. Just see how things are. My right knee was not cooperating with me today. It would be fine one moment and then be uncomfortable the next. Trying to keep an eye on things as well as not overdo it with hyping myself up (while not underselling it). Picking a weight that is 85-90% max but also is moving nice and speedy. I know I can do 280lbs for a double but with how I was feeling today, it was not wise to go for it. The goal isn’t a max double, it is to hit something challenging but not going to screw me up for competition. Log went a little out in front of me on the second rep with 270lbs. Not super speedy but still the most I’ve done on log so far this year with a clean in training. Anything I did was going to be better than how the last deload log session went where I missed 275lbs 5 times (and still got 280lbs at the show the week after haha). And it wasn’t a max and I wasn’t at max hype. So have I done enough to give 300lbs on a log a shot at this point? I’m not sure, but I’ve put in the work I can. I decided on a whim after that to weigh the plates on the new scale and it does look like it was just over 273lbs really. But I’ll keep treating the weights as what they say they are unless I have to weight them for something. It’s not like we use calibrated stuff (besides maybe a deadlift event haha) for this sport. Put stuff away before eating oatmeal and then stretching.

May 22, 2024 – Week 23, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats
45x10
95x8
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x2
325x2
325x2

Stretching
 
Comments: Getting a bit of that restless energy going on which is making it a little difficult to fall asleep as early as I should. I will feel tired earlier but then I get a second wind. Got a bit of the wandering pain going on where it just feels like stress is causing something to just ricochet discomfort through my body with no rhyme or reason. I know these things will pass and not to react and rise to it. It is warmer right now and allergies hit me late in the morning on Tuesday. Thankfully seemed to be ok today as far as allergies. Warming up went without incident. I was a little worried that my twitchy and tense hamstrings were something but everything felt fine while doing warm ups and soft tissue work. Today was just front squats. Similar to the end of last training cycle, doing some decent weight doubles. I believe that last time was to work up in doubles to about 275lbs to 315lbs and I ended up doing 275lbs and then 300lbs as I wanted to get a feel for 300lbs as this is still kind of seen as priming things for the overhead. I was debating putting on the fans but decided this was the only thing I was doing and just be warm and get a good sweat. I was a little nervous with the knees feeling stiff/achy but I know that even with that and even with things not feeling the best (like when I strained/tore the hamstring) that I can still have a good session on front squats. So similar to end of last cycle, work up to doubles with the plan being 325lbs for two doubles. 40lbs under my PR. This was doable. Warming up was the typical 40-50lbs jumps and trying to be somewhat low key with my excitation on them again. Keeping an eye on how my knees were feeling as well as noting how other stuff was feeling. I was feeling a bit better with my breathing on these in that I was able to mostly walk out the weight and go or take just one big breath and get the doubles. I don’t let the joint aches get to me as I know that I feel them when I deload. Despite that, this felt like the most comfortable that 275lbs has felt bar speed wise warming up. Trying to have my excitement level be about 80-90% for these weights as it isn’t that far off my best double but I want to be able to do these a more like they are certain and not motivated by anxiety of missing the lift. Save that for the competition when it matters. First rep on each of these sets were good and fine. I think maybe I was a little too lax with things that the second reps felt a little slower. It was about 90 seconds between those two sets which I’d say is good for seeing the strength endurance recovery and repeatability of the action at about 90% of my best double. No issues here and if anything, I was feeling better as I went as far as concerns with tight muscles and achy joints. Put stuff away before eating some oatmeal and then stretching. Got to keep stress under control as best I can. So very close now.

May 25, 2024 – Week 23, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (16’)
EMOM
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1
30x1

Sled Pushes/Sled Drags (turf, 60 seconds rest)
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’
135x50’/135x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: Work was annoying this week. Supervisor unexpectedly out and back ups were wastes of oxygen. Frustrating. I guess only good thing is that 2hr early dismissal on Friday and that I’m off work both Monday and Friday next week. Walking and trying to relax with distraction at this point as trying to keep anxiety down as best I can. Not think about every ache and such as being a problem. As far as this last true training for the competition, I could’ve done this workout from home. I’ve actually done this same workout from home at the end of the Nationals prep. But I think I made the choice to go out to the gym as I won’t see anyone next week and I was perhaps a little person deprived this week. And I might not be in the week after depending on my post competition plans. But besides that, “we have workout at home” was not going to be the least stressful thing. So I elected to go out to train as that would likely have me more motivated to be up at a reasonable hour. Sun out and quite warm. Not the warmest this year so far but darn close. As far as the deload workouts go, this was going to be the longest of them and likely the hardest one. Did the usual mobility and warming up stuff and joints were feeling the best I guess this week. First thing was bag toss. 30lbs for 10 tosses over 16’ done EMOM style. Did the warming up that seems to be helpful here minus full tosses as it was just going to be 30lbs. I had to setup the toss tower as it had come undone last week. It’s a quick fix but it gets a little annoying as the wood setup has definitely seen better days. And there were a ton of red mites on it. It was bright and hot out so I did have to wipe away sweat from my eyes every so often. First toss was fine but a bit forward. Second one I scraped the ground so that was a little off. Third arc was too shallow and it almost came back down on my side. My knees were feeling less achy by this point so the next two were ok. Sixth one I didn’t release my hands evenly (right on too long lol) so it kind of went all squirrely there. Got back on track after that and my eight and ninth were probably the best of the day. Last one I tried with the bag out in front more to see if I could perhaps get momentum into better with the lighter bag. More a technique for being away from target as it got height but seemed to get the most distance. This felt beneficial. Left biceps was feeling a little tight on the last few tosses. Rehydrated a bit before moving onto the last half the workout. Mr. Westerling seems to like having me do a lot of light sled work with short rests to end the training cycles. Ten sets of 50’ pushes into 50’ drags. Supposed to be light and be a lung burner. Now apparently I’ve not done this with the prowler on turf in I guess over 6yrs now. Even then, it was just pushes but I broke it up into 50’/50’ due to the other section being in use. I had found that having some kind of friction resistance seemed to feel better on my joints from the end of the last cycle so I figured the turf resistance would be a good one and not require using the tank at the other gym. I could do this in the street at home but there is little resistance once start moving and my joints felt like crap that time. Warming up to this I was just moving around the empty prowlers a bit to make sure that I wasn’t immediately running/sprinting. I picked what I thought was an appropriate weight with 135lbs total as I figured I had done this before. Starting things out was fine but I noticed that I was feeling it a bit early. Like three sets in and I was feeling fatigue and breathing a bit. I mean, I did put on some intentional weight here and it hasn’t been terribly hot until recently. I think it was less about the breathing hard and more that it just felt like my legs were very heavy and I couldn’t “sprint”. After the third set (time was going down each run), the time it took to finish started to increase. Fourth set was about the same as the third but the fifth was about a second slower and the sixth another second slower. I was feeling like I needed to stop as the fatigue in my legs was having me feel like such a coward and I don’t recall this being this tough. That seventh set took 5 seconds longer than the sixth set. But I wasn’t going to quit. Eighth and ninth set I had no speed and those were the slowest sets of a little over 38 seconds (my fastest was 23 seconds). With the end in sight, I got a little bit of a second wind for that last one managing to reduce time by 5 seconds. I just had to lay on the ground for a bit to recover and just wait until things were good. This was probably the hardest thing I did this training cycle. It would appear from my notes that 95lbs is the most I’ve done for this kind of workout on turf before. Oops. Put stuff away and ate before driving home to stretch. Survived another prep. Just need to rest up.

May 12, 2024 - May 18, 2024 - Week 22

 May 13, 2024 – Week 22, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Overhead (1 clean)
Strict Presses + Push Presses + Jerks
50x5+5+5
80x3+3+2
Push Press + Jerks
110x1+1
140x1+1
170x1+1
200x1+1
230x1+1
260x1+1
280x1+1

Axle Push Presses + Jerks
265x1+1
265x1+1
265x1+1
265x4+1

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 16
abx5 at pin 16
lbx5 at pin 16
lbx5 at pin 16

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x10
120x5
150x3
180x2
210x1
230x5
230x5

Stretching
 
Comments: Anxiety is high with the competition getting closer and I’ve kind of indicated that I have an understanding on why but even so, that doesn’t really stop a thing from happening because you understand it. The medley work did keep me up a bit before I could peacefully fall asleep with the aches and such. Didn’t get to sleep in as long as I would’ve liked Sunday but made sure to get walking and lawnmowing done between the rain showers. Weight slightly up again (either 289ish or 286ish depending) but not over 290lbs like I was for a little. This seems to be a comfortable weight for me. Haven’t been having any weird sensations and no shin splints while walking. I’m not sure if it was my nerves but I woke up shivering at like 2:30AM this morning and then used the restroom and went back to sleep no issue. But it was definitely feeling similar to how I was when I had the log last week. I was also nervous because of how much effort I had put into the hamstrings and they were still feeling sore. I was worrying that they might pull or something. I get a bit hypochondriac with aches and such as I get closer to competing as the fatigue and stress is high and nerves are kind of raw. I was mentioning to George I’m at my strongest but most delicate. A glass cannon is how I feel. I managed to get through work with the nerves. Warming up felt fine. I was maybe a little leery about how axle would feel since last time my knees were killing me and thankfully it was a reduced workload session as I don’t think I’d been able to push things with it being almost 90 degrees and my knees feeling terrible. It was a little bit cooler and I didn’t have the fans on in the garage warming up. But I did have one going out where I was doing axle because going from outside to into the sunroom and then the house just seemed to have me pick up sweat. Plan for axle was a top double and that was indicated as 280lbs. Do what we’ve been doing with complex of push press and then jerk. Off crash pads due to the show specs. Knees were a little achy but like the normal amount of achy when I do my first set of these. Things were moving pretty damn well here. Trying to move things along but also take my time to get myself collected. Chalked my shirt up a ton and used one of the past contest shirts by this promoter. With working up, I know that I seem to not take the second to last set as serious as the top set. I think part of it is that I don’t want to blow it early and that not taking it to 11 has that set feel a little tougher at points and then I get the excitation and anxiety to kick in and make it look better. Maybe I do it intentionally but I’m really not sure. I feel like it is just another restriction lifted on myself as I work up. I ended up having to belt clean the 260lbs but it felt fine as far as recovery and the overhead. But I really don’t want to have it be a belt clean if I can help it on the heavier stuff. I’ve noticed that I seem to be able to pull higher on the top set and I didn’t want that to catch me off guard this time. I was also concerned about my hands. I have some blisters from the yoke portion of the medley and some raw skin so applying liquid chalk wasn’t pleasant. One thing I’m realizing was possibly throwing me off when I was doing axle two years ago was having the wrist wraps too tight. I’ve been doing them loose and I seem to be having an easier time of the catch and flip to shoulders. I got set and went for this weight, the heaviest I’ve attempted on axle in 18 months. Got it up higher so no belt clean and into the rack. Push press went up real good. Then the jerk. Not so good. Had to catch it forward and press it out slightly. This is still some progress on that front. But it makes it clear to me that jerk isn’t going to be what I’m going to be attempting at the show. Rack work after that. I was advised that I could do 5lbs more than last time if I didn’t think that doing 280lbs would be powerful and solid reps. Knowing how 260lbs was last time with the jerks (and just how the weight felt on my body for push pressing), I went with 265lbs. Especially since the jerk with 280lbs was ugly. I just had to tell myself that the feeling of the weight on my wrists, shoulders and legs was a lie. If I went by what they were telling me, I’d not be budging the weight. This was similar to last time with the push presses being fine and dandy and the jerks being questionable. I took a little longer rest than the usual 90 seconds I was giving myself for the last set where I could rep out. I was debating just doing a double but figured I’d try and do what I did last time. Push pressing was feeling good but I was getting a little bit out in front of myself ever other rep which was fatiguing. I racked for the jerk but felt I kind of lost the momentum with having to kind of catch the last push press. So I set it down on the rack and took a breather (less than 30 seconds) and reracked the weight and went for the jerk then. I got it and didn’t want to dance around with it and put it down just as quickly. So that was good work there. At this point I downed some oatmeal and took a slight break before continuing. Band assisted pull-ups. Same as last time and the time before that and so on. Trying to be explosive with these as I can and controlled on the eccentric. Felt strong on these again but definitely noticed fatigue hit on the second set after the first two reps. I think that is probably due to having more work beforehand compared to last session. Log incline benching to finish up the session. Last benching of the training cycle as dropping a good chunk for the deload week next week. So 2x5 and back up to the weight progression of adding 5lbs. So 20lbs added from last week to get back up there. Things were not feeling right at the start. Balance and such and my right shoulder was feeling a little stiff. So I was a little worried perhaps that I had sapped my strength for these with the heavy axle work. But I managed to remain calm and proceed to work up and get the reps and sets down. Always has to be speed with how I’ve been doing these log incline presses. Put stuff away and stretched.

May 15, 2024 – Week 22, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wide Grip Jack Pulls w/ Hip Circle (straps)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
495x1
525x5

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
20+45x39 seconds

Planks
bw+53x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Got to get back to going to bed before midnight. Just creeps up on me I guess where I seem to get a second wind of curiosity and then realize I spent the time unwisely. Had to adjust things yesterday with walking after work and in some dampness with light rain. Nothing seemed off from training. Right hamstring feeling less tight but still leery going into this session. I’m probably going to be overly cautious and concerned with every ache until I get to the contest venue and lift some weights. I was feeling fine until just shortly before I started training where my hips and lower back just felt terrible for no reason. Whatever. Warming up didn’t seem to make things feel worse. Maybe a little better. Last deadlift session before competition. So like last time, not going for a max set of 5 reps but going back up in weight on them. So 30lbs more than last time. I remembered how things had felt a good bit tougher than last time and decided I’d keep that in mind here and not get surprised or frustrated by that. I’m winding things down and this is a supplemental building lift. Can’t build no more, actualizing now. Knees weren’t feeling terribly achy on these today. But could notice the hips and lower back feeling a bit of the stress. Plate jumps here and reduced reps working up. I kept the fans off as this wasn’t going to be pushing me to the limit and I figured working up a good sweat was fine here. Feel warm with the lower volume still. 225lbs for some reason always feels like the best weight with pulling. Joints usually aren’t aching and it just feels smooth, easy and powerful. Breaking the weight off the floor was feeling harder and the bar just felt stiffer than usual. Not like it gets any flex in it anyways. I was just glad that this wasn’t acting up with my hamstrings as this stance can be a little compromised if pulling in a noncontrolled manner. So only 40lbs off the top set of 5 reps I’ve done. The singles were certainly helpful with getting my expectations in order. 525lbs did feel heavy for me but video says that first pull was a speed pull. Again, it kind of feels tougher than I’d have liked but it does seem like 495lbs to 565lbs feel about the same difficulty for me as I can’t really move things that fast. I can only really tell how difficult it was for me with how I feel after the set is done and how quickly I recover and catch my breath. And this set I’d say it didn’t take me hardly any time at all to be ready to go on to the next thing. This was similar to how 495lbs was last time. Bracing work to follow. Warming up for the hyper hold with hyper extensions as per usual. These actually felt pretty good. I guess they don’t feel as much like a chore when not going for max effort set work beforehand. Now the plan for the hold was to add 5lbs to last week for the weight held to the chest in the row position. So 40lbs. But that would’ve meant using a small 5lbs plate with my bumper plates. I said screw it, just give me a 45lbs plate. Well the 45lbs plates with handles were on the deadlift setup and I didn’t want to slow down my pace so I just used the 45lbs bumper plate. 10lbs added is noticeable. Same with holding until about 5 seconds left. This was certainly tougher. To think that I used to struggle with this weight in hands but half the weight on the neck harness. Wanted to get over 30 seconds and called it at 36 seconds as I could feel the leg twitch tremors starting. Ended up counting a little slow so almost 40 seconds there. A little breather moving on to the planks, just with getting the weights ready. Again, no changes here. The weight I’m using is perfect training weight wise for the regular plank. Bracing and flexing and breathing. Also sweating a good bit. I was a little concerned setting up that this would feel weird on the lower back and hips but thankfully it did not. Side planks were fairly uneventful. Sometimes they can be like this and other times feel off and difficult. Ate oatmeal and put stuff away before stretching out. Just one more session this week before deload week starts.

May 18, 2024 – Week 22, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses
16’
30x1
30x1
35x1
35x1
40x1
40x1
16’6”
40x0
40x1
40x0
40x1
17’
40x1
40x0
40x1
40x1

Sandbag Rows
150x5

Sandbag to Shoulders
150x1 R
150x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
250x1/250x1/275x1/300x0
300x1/325x0 L

Stretching
 
Comments: Trying to not have myself too stressed out as competition time is upon us. Saturday I woke up needing allergy meds. I was going to be taking them anyways with it raining off and on and because I would around people. But luckily only nasal spray. I got up about 30 minutes after the planned time I was to wake up as I was feeling a little tired and been having a bad habit of staying up too late this past week. Got to get that back on track. Right knee was aching for what appears to be no reason. It would’ve made sense for it to be doing that right after Monday training with jerks. Oh well. Weather made drive out similar to last week but not quite as bad. It was going to be all sandbags today. Raining off and on and since it was more the sandbag shouldering that really was needing that one last run through, I knew that bag toss wasn’t going to be something that was going to be terribly affected by the rain with it being the lighter week. If I’ve been able to do +40lbs sandbags over 16’ in rain and snow, I should be good here. Fair number of people at the gym but looks like again most were finishing up before I really got started. Not too quick through with warm ups as people talking and doing stuff. Fiddled around with an implement that is going to be used at contest hosted by the gym in the fall (not at the gym) and gave suggestions on how to gear things for open vs novice on it. Right knee was still feeling achy so I kind of knew that this wasn’t going to be a session of the best I had. But warming up stuff did feel good and fine. Time to toss the bag. So, as written, the plan was to try and progress on the toss for height and trying to do 10 singles EMOM and trying to toss it higher and higher if I can (last 2-3 being max effort). The plan was to do this with 40lbs. Always a back up to do 30lbs if necessary. Tosses have felt good on the knees the past few sessions so I guess I was due for one where they weren’t. The band had come undone on the toss tower so I did need to fix that first. Did a little more warming up than usual because of said knee issue. My tosses warming up were quite shallow on the arc so I needed to not be doing that with working weight as while easily getting the height, might not be the case as weight increases. With 40lbs, I didn’t feel confident that I could get 10 tosses over 17’ with how I was feeling, especially with the rain. So my plan was to go a bit more literal with the trying to go higher with starting at 16’ and go up 6” (seemed safest) and see how things go. I knew it would take too much time to have the toss height be lower than 16’ with the band setup but not nearly as time consumptive making the setup taller. So first two tosses were ok. I was hoping to do 2 tosses that were good and then go up. Because adjusting every toss by myself was not going to really let me stick to EMOM rest. The first toss was better than the second. My first attempt at 16’6” was not good. I released too early and it didn’t even get high enough to touch the band. Managed to get it the next time. Missed the next one because I guess I dipped too far down and had the bag grazed the ground and threw me off as it went straight up but not back. Got is on the next go but arc wasn’t that great. At this point I decided I’d go up another 6”. Because this wasn’t as simple as just lifting the sides and putting stuff under it, had to wait until the next minute to go (so EOMOM for that set). Just went over. So I guess a technical PR over last time with 35lbs. Second toss I got too close to the setup and smacked the back of my skull on it on the follow through. Shame as I got better height this time around. Came back and got it clean for my best toss of the day. Since I had spent a “toss” to setup for this height, I added another minute so I could truly give it 10 attempts. This ended up being the closest success of the day. I wasn’t going to let the misses get to me on this with pushing the height of the tosses. 40lbs is a never miss weight I feel now. But learned that unless I have like two helpers, adjusting height to work with EMOM timing isn’t happening. I think 18’ is the highest I can make this and have it be “safe”. I decided to weigh the bag to see if it had gained weight from the rain. Yes, 41lbs. Put stuff away and got ready for the sandbags inside. I had been stressing about this since I did this last time. This was going to be my last go at this before the show. And I hate how this event makes me feel when it is a series like this. Feels fine and then hit a wall and fatigue is bad. After I did this last time. I was sitting and sweating a good bit. It felt humid today but the fans were on. It took a lot of time for setup last time so I figured it made sense to set everything up before I even got started with messing around with reps and such. Especially since I was likely going to need to chalk up well and good. The 150lbs bag felt like something on the pick for rows so that wasn’t exactly a great sign there. The rowing itself felt easy. On the shouldering itself with warming up, pick also felt a little slow. I did no rest between sides with 150lbs but a little bit for 200lbs. Then it was time for the series. Same setup as last time. I chalked up the 300lbs and 325lbs as well as myself. After last time, I had wondered if perhaps I needed to change up tactics with the bags over 275lbs. I’ve been doing the row pick style and then cross body shouldering. After those first three bags, it was challenging to do the 300lbs (which I didn’t get to stabilize well before it went) and couldn’t get the 325lbs up. The 275lbs had felt tougher too compared to the 305lbs firm packed bag at home. So floppy bags make a big difference. So I was going to do a dry run I guess of the vertical pick and shoulder style. I’ve not attempted this as I felt that it would be more fatiguing on the lower back and stress biceps and chest more. Also with my levers and height, it didn’t seem to be worth it for bags that were shorter. But I figured I didn’t want to leave a stone unturned and keep a “what if” out of my head. So plan was to do the first three like I’ve been doing and then go for those last two bags the new style. I had someone to time and to give down commands. The down commands ended up being a little inconsistent (long or too quick) but that wasn’t really and issue. First three bags were fine. I know I can do those. Took a bit to steel myself for 300lbs this new way. At first I felt like this can work. But then I went for that stand up and pop and it was not where I wanted things. It had me stuck in that spot where I hate to be and couldn’t get any momentum. I also lost my balance and almost tripped over the previous sandbag with how far I ended up shuffling backwards. So this was a disaster. I got myself focused and attempted to repick the bag how I normally do (I could feel the right hamstring feeling a little crampy) and went for it but I was just too exhausted and couldn’t get the bag high enough and dropped it. Well that sucked. I rested for a bit as I wanted to give the heavier bags another shot. Make sure that I was not going to be using the vertical pick. I was able to get 300lbs but it was rough and it was struggle to get the 325lbs bag up into my lap to attempt shouldering. Not happening. So not thrilled with that result to end the training cycle. Refueled with food and drink before putting the sandbags away. The right hamstring I think is more just scar tissue stuff but I am keeping an eye on it. I think that if I’m to really give the vertical pick and shoulder method a try, I’m going to have to dedicate a lot of time to it like I have with relearning jerks (which may not end up being too beneficial for me). I was feeling the effort after the run similar to last time. Had me asking myself why I do this stuff and kind of dreading the fatigue I’m going to likely be feeling when I’m competing. I feel that I need to get through 3 bags quick to give myself time to attempt the two heavier bags and not mess up when I go for it. Use the time period up as I don’t see myself getting reps with the last bag with how I seem to fatigue on this. Thoughts for training this next time. Learn from it. Deload week next week (though two of the workouts aren’t exactly light weight).

May 5, 2024 - May 11, 2024 - Week 21

 May 6, 2024 – Week 21, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Clean and Push Presses
Clean Every Rep
100x5
140x3
Clean Once
170x2
200x2

12” Log Push Presses
230x2
260x2
280x2

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

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

Stretching
 
Comments: Definitely noticing that I’m feeling more pressure on myself mentally with the competition getting closer. Thoughts of trying to drop down to 265lbs (20lbs in 4 weeks is not safe) as I can do those weights comfortable, worries I’m not ready or that I didn’t improve enough. It can be difficult to quiet those negative thoughts as get closer to show time as anxiety increases. But I know I can keep things under control and in check. Been doing that for a decade and a half now. Just need a little rest and step back to assess and make a plan to move forward. Thankfully the allergens in the air took a break and I didn’t need to do any meds since Saturday. Trying to relax myself with distracting on possible future competitions and logistics. It may be for naught if things work out for me but I can’t do anything about what is coming besides doing my best and getting the work done. Not much thought needed there. As far as weight, technically same as last week but that is weighing myself after morning activities. But not eating as much means stuff isn’t going through as quickly so when I checked myself a little later, I was just above 285lbs. Since the dropping of the two addition shakes in the diet, I’ve noticed perhaps slightly less energy overall but no shin splints popping up while walking or feeling blood sugar being off. I was nervous for training. Not because I thought I’d not be able to do it but that I wouldn’t be able to do it right and hit what I wanted to. Warming up was fine for training. I added in some additional foam rolling for my quads at the start to see if that perhaps helped with the knee issues at all in the right knee. I figured this was a good idea after seeing how tight my quads were beginning of Saturday’s training. No real issues. Log pressing to start things off. With axle being reduced last time, there was something similar with log but not quite. Similar in the sense that I was only working up to 200lbs for a clean and press like axle. But I’d then be moving to rack work which I didn’t do for axle last week. It was thankfully not super humid like it was last week when I did axle but it was decently humid due to thunderstorm earlier in the day. I’m not sure if the foam rolling helped or not but it seemed like knee was feeling less bad. It does seem like leaning back on my heels with the press doesn’t feel as good as midfoot or forefoot. Weight was feeling a little heavy on the pick. I kind of expected that with how my lower back was feeling from the shouldering. Walked into the rack for the heavier stuff and where I was stressing out. As I’ve mentioned, for whatever reason, out of the rack for log does not feel comfortable to me. The only time I’ve ever had it feel good was that one tiered squat rack at the YMCA. Just can’t get it right anywhere else it feels harder on the knees and pressing. Which is good on the one hand in that essentially a tougher variation for me to do and save the back and arms. The plan was to work up to a top double ideally. Depending on feel. Suggested was to work up to 280lbs but 270lbs was fine too. In the event I wasn’t feeling that great, I could do reps at the weight but make sure to save a rep in the tank. 280lbs would be fine. 270lbs would be fine. But I didn’t want that. I wanted to do 290lbs. Because a double at that weight would be a lifetime PR out of the rack and would mean I had to have a 300lbs log press. But I was anxious about going for that because this out of the rack situation has not been great for me. 260lbs is actually the most I’ve done out of the rack since I’ve been lifting from home so that is over 4yrs now. But I get fixated on numbers. But I told myself I’d only go for that if 260lbs felt really easy. Spoiler, it did not. So I knew that there was a risk of not getting a solid double with 290lbs and I made myself go for 280lbs. Of course my reptilian brain said this if fine, just make it easy enough that you can get 4 reps. Another stupid numbers fixation. I got set and went for it. First rep was really good. But catching the log and getting ready for the second rep buffeted me a little and it did go out in front so it was a much tougher lift. I couldn’t guarantee a successful third lift and if I did, there wouldn’t be any RIR. So called it there. I have to remind myself this is improvement from where I was at the start of training as I was missing 5lbs less than this for singles at end of last show prep. And double with my best lift in competition of last year. Have to keep focused on that growth and know we can improve now that we worked from the bottom back up. Enough with that, into the garage for the barbell work, which I already had stuff setup in the garage so that I could move things along. I probably should’ve put on the fans but I kind of wanted to work up a sweat to get used to what summer is going to be like. It was a pleasant warm and I wasn’t going to be going heavy for these next two exercises. So upper body sessions are a little deloaded and there is a winding down of intensity as peak for contest. Rows up first. Still sets of five reps but more like the band assisted pull-ups in that two sets of 5 reps with a working weight that should be fast and easy. Considering I was doing 40-50lbs jumps with rows, it felt like a 50lbs decrease would probably do it so 275lbs for the weight. I was maybe a little unsure how the biceps would feel from bag work. But this actually went pretty well. Arms were feeling a little tight and upper back was cramping slightly but these were easy and very powerful rows. Then benching. This was lowered down like the incline log benching to 225lbs for 2x5 reps. Same warming up. Even though light, I wanted to keep these moving fast so used wrist wraps. Warming up felt about the usual. This was a day that 185lbs decided to feel heavy. First set I kind of forgot where I was “pausing” to reset but figured it out and got on with it. I wasn’t satisfied with that first set and managed to get the kinks out for the second set. Bench with this particular grip hasn’t felt that consistent but I’ve been working on it to hopefully get my chest and shoulders on board with the upper body stuff to help with the overhead without overly taxing things. I don’t seem to have the shoulder discomforts and impinging I was feeling several months ago when first starting out with benching again so I guess that is a plus. Ate oatmeal and put stuff away before stretching.

May 8, 2024 – Week 21, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

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

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

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
20+35x47 seconds

Crunches
bw+25x30

Lying Leg Raises
bwx30

Stretching
 
Comments: Trying to combat the doubts that build as I get closer to competition with logic. Really seems to be the only way. I made myself look at my thoughts at the beginning of the training cycle for this competition and see what I had listed as goals and thoughts. Need to remind myself that there is progress, just not as much as I’d be satisfied with. If I get the goals I was aiming for at the beginning, I’ll still be hitting goals. Similar to Monday training, I was agonizing over what was to be a top set for an exercise that I had numbers given but I had thoughts and numbers attached to be what I think I needed to know I was where I needed to be. This seems to pop up as I get closer to competing. And I should know that it isn’t what is done in training, game day is what matters. But I like to have things be as sure a thing as I can. With warming up, I did some more foam rolling at the start. I had added stuff for the quads but figured I should do the calves as well. So calves, hamstrings and quadriceps. And then the regularly scheduled stuff. No issues with anything. Knees (specifically the right one) are feeling less achy. I knew I was going to be fairly warm by the end of this training but kept the fans off at the start. Front squats to start things off. For the remainder of this training cycle, I’m going to be using weights under the top single I hit this cycle so this should be all comfortable stuff and not needing to worry about bailing on weights or missing a lift. Idea was to have something that put some stress on the body but wasn’t overly taxing for my last suited deadlift session. So work up in triples after warming up to 315lbs. The typical 40-50lbs jumps and trying to be somewhat low key with my excitation on it. Keeping an eye on how my knees were feeling. My right hamstring was feeling a little tense so I was a little leery about that. I mean, I had done heavy front squats with a strained/torn hamstring so I knew that I could do this weight even if that happened but it had me a little worried for deadlifts afterwards. I think I hit that happy medium with the hype needed for the lift but not having it feel too bad. Only the last rep with 315lbs felt slow. Left hip was feeling a little achy after that top set but went away. Took a bit of break putting weights away and tearing down to get ready for the suited pull work. I needed some time to get my thoughts in order. And get the fans setup. I wasn’t too sure how this cycle would end with things but I knew that his session had to be a pull from the floor and the last one with the suit before the show to insure that I was recovered enough. It has been sets of 5 reps but this time just a double. I wasn’t sure how pulling from the floor would be but I figured that I’d have an easier time getting my feet to the bar but harder time with getting to the bar. And hopefully feel like I was getting a little more pop off the floor because of that. As I’ve mentioned, I can’t make the straps any tighter by myself and they are loose enough I can slide them on and off with no effort at all. The listed plan was warming up as has been the case and then 615lbs for a double. Which would technically be a 5lbs PR double for suited pulls in training. That was the thing that was stressing me out with the numbers game. It was listed as 615lbs for the double and that I was to do a double that was “safe”. And by safe, a max double I knew I could get. Running the numbers, I figured that up to 635lbs was doable and since that would be double with my best single in training that I’d be for sure able to pull a PR pull (hopefully 705lbs). Basing off of how I’ve pulled 40lbs more on a deadlift bar single at competitions compared to my best training single. But I’d have to see how things go obviously. This was very much like the log press out of the rack where I want that certainty that I will do the thing. I was a little nervous because the previously injured hamstring was feeling a little tight but thankfully there were no issues and I could push through as if nothing was amiss. Compared to the 11” pulls on the jack stands, pulling from the floor felt a lot better on my lower back. So floor or 13”, 11” not a fan I guess haha. I wanted to try something out with support gear as I’ve been doing nothing besides the “deadlift belt” outside the suit. I wanted to see if adding the new rehband belt with support was helpful in any way. I also had to get used to something I’ve not done before and that is wearing a shirt over the suit. I’ve done no suit and shirt under the suit. So this was a little different and add a little to the prep time between pulls. And that seems to be really all it is, a little more time needed with prepping before pulling. The rehband belt was certainly adding something but I wasn’t sure if it was good or not at the start. Getting down to the bar was rough but I was able to move the feet a bit better because I could roll the bar away and towards myself. With 495lbs, it was feeling similar to how it was last time with feeling like not that much with lockout. Similar but not quite the same. The last single before the double was up and I was hoping to have this feel fast and easy so that I knew what I was good for. But it did not feel great at all. Felt good off the floor for a little bit then it got heavy and felt way out in front of me and had to put in some effort to lock it out. I started to panic. If I had gone off how that had felt, that was the weight for the double. But I know that this would be a tough weight for me to do for a triple without a suit and that a suit doesn’t make the weight feel lighter, just moves it and generally faster. I had not worn the rehband belt that time and I was wondering if perhaps that little bit was making a difference in my core. The deadlift belt doesn’t have that same rigidity that my ratchet belt has. And perhaps the rehband under the suit was artificially filling out sections of the suit I couldn’t make tighter without assistance. It was worth a gamble. Go for the planned 615lbs double even though it didn’t feel at all like a sure thing right now. Go through the ritual of prep and getting chalk and sweat managed. Got myself hyped up and went for it. Not as fast as 565lbs but it felt better. Second rep I was able to get into a better groove and it went up quite well. I had more in me but not sure if there was 20lbs more for this double all things considered. It does seem that my legs are straightening out quicker than my hips and back are. I would’ve liked to get some more floor sessions with the suit but we kind of had to do things this way with a new suit and coming back from hamstring injury. Again, bruising around the legs where the suit bites in (also hips this time) but less fatigue in the hamstrings and glutes. Maybe because just a double this time. Rest of this was going to be working on building up the bracing muscles. Hyper bench holds, warming up with the usual back extensions. Felt good and needed. I was still coming down from the deadlift set. Could tell this might be a struggle today. I mean, this is the harder session really for the lower back compared to the wide pull weeks. At that was deloaded a bit last time. Same weight as last time with the harness and weight in hand for the hold. I wasn’t too sure what the time was I did last time but I knew it was over 42 seconds. This was much more challenging feeling this time. I started to get leg twitches near the end. Apparently a second short of what I had done last time. Which isn’t that bad really as same weight but heavier stuff beforehand and usually this is the harder week for these anyways. These certainly feel like a staple for me going forward with lower body stuff for the deadlift. From there, weighted crunches. I was kind of just going through things and not really putting away weights so that I could get done and eat something. Then worry about putting stuff away after that. It was at this time that I noticed how achy my knees were from the deadlifts. There is a ton of pressure from the suit work. I’m still breaking these up in chunks mentally as I do the reps with abdominal work. I played around with bigger chunks this time. I think I’ll need to get more comfortable with this weight before trying to add more weight. Abs were feeling tense and wanted to cramp as I got ready for the lying leg raises so had to lay flat for a few moments to stretch the abs and ribcage out before proceeding. No issues while doing them. Some reps felt lower back tension but that was on me being complacent and not focusing on the motion. Had to let the oatmeal sit a little longer so put stuff away before having some. And then stretched out.

May 11, 2024 – Week 21, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (15’)
30x1
32.5x1
35x1
37.5x1
40x1
42.5x1
45x1
47.5x1
50x1
52.5x0
52.5x1 PR+2.5lbs
55x1 PR+5lbs

Yoke/Frame Carries
(50’ run back, 18” pick)
300x50’/280x50’
390x50’/380x50’
500x50’/480x50’
600x50’/580x50’
700x50’/680x50’ in 27.78 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I think realizing that I tend to get more stressed the closer to competition because I get fixated on numbers that I “need” to hit and why I don’t seem to be having that stress at the start of prep has been beneficial in getting some of those emotions in check. I figure it out if given enough time. With rainy weather, I wasn’t able to get in a walk on Friday but was for Thursday. Right side intercostals and other associated muscles on that side were feeling a little tight after Wednesday session. I think not only because weight being pushed but also the stress accumulated with fatigue. So that was weighing on me a little considering I still had some weighty sessions left before I could truly wrap this up. I figured for training it made sense to get up at work time to get out there between the rain. It was going to rain early and then late. I’m not sure why but I started to get some anxiety as I left my house. This was not exactly a session that was planned that should cause me this level of anxiety but it seemed to go away as abruptly as the onset. The drive out was a bit annoying getting to the highway and then getting into the city. I guess construction on a major route and requiring detour increased the local traffic. So drive time increased by about 10 minutes. Good bit of people at the gym today doing their thing. But I think only really half of them actually are training for something specific. Warming up felt decent. The increased foam rolling at the beginning may be helping. Up first was bag toss. The heavy week with max toss over 15’ with 2.5lbs jumps. This hadn’t really felt good last time I did it with my knees being achy as hell and not getting the full power into my tosses. I was having weights I was frequently clearing higher not making the grade. But last week things had gone well with the lighter bag and for higher height. And that had been because I started doing stuff a little differently. I brought back doing warming up with swings and various things as well as the foam rolling for the quads and modified camel pose stretch. Another thing was that I decided to use the bag at the gym for the stuff under 45lbs and then use my bag for that weight so that hopefully the changing of weights issue didn’t lead to a big cooldown as I got closer to tougher weight tosses. I should mention that while I was out there for a majority of the time there was someone from the gym sitting down near the tires in the walkway. I had asked them when I saw them there if they were ok and they said they were so I left them be but it did make me a little uneasy. I’m really not good with reading cues and such and I have to accept the words said as truth and I wasn’t going to press the matter. They did seem to be fine in the gym later when I was doing other stuff though. Things were feeling pretty good on the tosses today. 30lbs got launched into orbit. I toned it down a little after that to save for the heavier stuff. There were some tosses where I did hit the back of the toss tower on the backswing with the bag but even with that, I didn’t end up missing. I also didn’t feel like I got off balance on the swing out front like I sometimes end up doing. I was a little anxious with 47.5lbs since I had two misses with that last time and barely cleared. Clean toss this time around. 50lbs also did a clean toss even though that was one of the tosses where I hit the back. Anything above this weight would be a training PR. First go at 52.5lbs was close. Had the height but the arc was off. I had to review the video to see what had happened because it looked close. Hit the band coming down but didn’t go over. I was advised for this last “max” session on bag toss that I was to stop after 3 misses at a weight if I went after it. I took a break like I was doing between adjusting weights and came back to get it just over. I was not expecting 55lbs to go truly. There was already a bag loaded to 55lbs and I was mainly doing it I think just to get a feel for it as the only issue I had with my Nats prep was that weights over this from doing lighter and higher was I got off balance going for heavier there. I went at it and it was just as close as last time with 50lbs. I couldn’t tell if I got it or not but I believed I did in my heart but held in my excitement like a lifter waiting to see 3 white lights. Reviewed video and saw that it had gone over as it took the band down with it. So a 5lbs training PR. So I should be at my strongest for a max bag toss in forever I think. Since the band had come undone I figured I’d call it there rather than go for 57.5lbs. Don’t want to get too greedy and that was a close as it was going to be without it being a miss anyways. End on the high note. I again took my time with putting away stuff from sandbag toss as I knew what was to come. The medley. The last time doing it this prep. And hopefully I would get it right this time. The running up to the yoke part is no longer a thing so starting under the yoke. I also had accidentally done 50lbs over contest weight on the yoke. I was to do contest weight and conditions here for this last go at it. But one of the issues with coming early to train was that people are there. While nice in some aspects, not so nice when you have to do something for a tough show that is happening sooner than anyone else’s competition. The offer to work in was given but I knew that wasn’t going to work as it was too cluttered. I needed a full 50’ for both implements and going up quite heavy and there were people doing yoke into farmer’s walk, farmer’s walk and sandbag carry and loads. And also as mentioned, about half of the people were just doing general training (the rest have competitions end of June vs mine June 1st). And it can get a little frustrating with newer athletes that are being a bit reckless with training (you shouldn’t be failing to lift a sandbag that is for “conditioning”). I did the math and realized I was going to be there for way too long if I waited until I could get enough space to train and that if working in I’d cool down way too much between runs. So I girded myself to doing the medley outside again and setting that up by myself. I was a little leery as my right hamstring was feeling tight. It had started to feel that once I got up to 50lbs on the bag toss. Hoping it is just fatigue from combination of the last bit of trainings. Started off fine enough I guess. Unlike last time I did this, my knees had felt fine but were aching on the bag toss. Now, they were feeling achy here while no issues on bag toss. I wanted to make sure I didn’t misload the yoke. Well I did for the second set by mistake and corrected it going forward. I started to get anxious as I was feeling a little more winded after runs than I was anticipating, especially considering that I had misloaded the yoke last time. But I think that is because I was doing this outside on the uneven concrete vs inside with the level floor. But I was stressing out a bit after my second to last set as that felt more fatiguing then I would’ve liked and the frame felt a lot heavier. It felt daunting that I had another 100lbs to go. I feel that I was getting better with the transitions like getting out from under the yoke to get back to the frame. But with how that last set had felt, I was feeling similar to how I felt with the last work up set on the deadlifts. How was I going to finish this feeling like that? It wasn’t the yoke I was worried about, it was the fatigue and then getting to the frame that was going to be heavy. Worry about the right hamstring and losing my grip due to calluses tearing (I do hand care stuff but the humidity and the thin handles can be a problem). I got myself mentally prepared for the suck and got assistance for commands and time. And off I went. Yoke felt like it should and I was feeling pretty good with how I was moving on the uneven pavement. I think I slowed down a little to stay stable and make clean dismount to run back. While running back I took some forceful breaths to prepare myself for the frame. So a little slow here to insure a solid brace and pick. I think the excitation helped with making the pick feel less arduous then the previous set (the chalking up ritual probably helps too). I know I wasn’t going my fastest here due to the uneven pavement and trying to make sure I didn’t eat it and lose my grip and balance as if I went down, that was going to be it. But I finished no issues. Checked the time and found I was a good bit under 30 seconds, which had been my goal for this training cycle. Relief went over me. Only got two more events that have final touches on to worry about really then. Calmed down a little and ate food (time had gone by fast, 4hrs since I last ate) before putting stuff away. George was there today and he helped with putting stuff away with me and had a good talk about stuff. Had traffic issues getting home as well and I was feeling beat up. Ate more food and stretched out.

April 28, 2024 - May 4, 2024 - Week 20

 April 29, 2024 – Week 20, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Overhead (1 clean)
Strict Presses + Push Presses + Jerks
50x5+5+5
80x3+3+2
Push Press + Jerks
110x1+1
140x1+1
170x1+1
200x1+1

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 16
abx5 at pin 16
lbx5 at pin 16
lbx5 at pin 16

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x10
120x5
150x3
180x2
210x5
210x5

Stretching
 
Comments: Start of the final preparations for Regionals. Last time I did the medley, it was a lot of setup time outside and this time not so much and indoors. There were some stiffness and aches Saturday evening but not to the point where I had a hard time falling asleep. So I thought maybe I dodged the bullet here and was going to be handling the oops of going 50lbs over. Nope, just decided to catch up with me as I went to bed Sunday night. Knees, hips and lower back. The promoter did a video about the contest and clarified some things. Apparently no running up to the yoke so I’ll do that next time for the medley work. With some mentions about stuff in how I was feeling as far as feedback for this last bit, I had mentioned some things feeling a little beat up so there is some pulling back on stuff to float the peak to contest time. Which for this Monday session, meant it was essentially a deload session. It was kind of good that this is how things lined up because it also was going to be a record high for this time of year. Just shy of 90 degrees, which isn’t fun when it is this humid out. Had the fans going in the garage (even though only going to be there for warming up and switching weights) and the patio area. Warming up seemed to be fine at the start. But noticed there was some knee aches. Not a ton but noticeable. But everything else seemed good and all. Axle starting things off. This was going to be the most reduced of the exercises for the session. Only working up to 200lbs and no rack work. Make things crisp and smooth. I had decided that I wasn’t going to be chalking up for the session considering the weight as well as refrain from a hard belt and wrist wraps. Per the video, apparently axle will be off of crash pads like the log and potentially standing away so I figured I should get practice at that. I decided to do facing away from the rack just because I could. I didn’t have to worry about racking the weights for rack work. The elevated pull can sometimes be a little off putting if I’ve trained from the floor and vice versa. On the good side of this, I didn’t seem to have any issues with the upper body (still some bruising from the blood draw) but man did my knees ache big time. I’m kind of used to them being a little stiff at the start with the light weights and gradually feeling a lot better as I got (especially with log after first set) but seemed to be more prevalent. So the strict pressing was comfortable, the push presses a little uncomfortable and the jerks more so. So it was probably a good idea to deload this and hopefully come back the next time to hit over 90% contest. Noticed rack dropped a bit on the jerk with the “top weight”. Oh well. Just moving to move and keep this balloon in the air as long as I can. No intraworkout meals as not trying to force stuff down and I figured I’d be going through this workout fairly quick compared to usual with the reduction in the overhead pressing to eat right afterwards. Band assisted pull-ups. Same as last time so no changes here. These actually felt pretty darn good. Maybe not doing a bunch over clean and presses/jerks and then heavy overhead work helps. I was thinking about using chalk but decided against it. Usually there seems to be something not quite right warming up and then I’m surprised how well the working sets go. Each set felt good. I was actually feeling quite explosive that some reps I was shaking the power rack inadvertently. The wasps in the power rack have returned but thankfully this didn’t make them come out to see what the ruckus was. And both working sets felt about the same. Not feeling as much fatigue on the second set as I’ve tended to feel. Log incline benching to finish up the session. Still the 2x5 but dropping back down to 210lbs for the sets with the plan to go back up to 5lbs more than last time for the sets. Pressing at the start was feeling pretty easy and smooth. I did make myself slow down the speed between sets so I wasn’t rushing. I was debating using wrist wraps or not here since I was trying to treat this as more deload but figured I’d wear them for this as more a joint comfort thing and be able to put the “speed” into it. I’m going to be doing that for regular bench anyways. Form felt a little off like I was pressing too much out in front. But video was saying these were strong and speedy. I’d say probably similar to when felt like 315lbs was heavy for the front squat “deload” when not going all out and keeping something in check. I was trying to have some intensity but not all of it here. Finished and ate oatmeal before putting stuff away and then stretching out and cooling off.

May 1, 2024 – Week 20, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

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

Hyper Extensions
bwx10

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
20+35x48 seconds

Planks
bw+53x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Well it begins again with phone tag with scheduling medical stuff due to the blood work and liver enzymes. Not too sure how that is going to play out. I kind of wish the temperature had increased a little more gradually than it did but it has at least been somewhat consistent. But it does seem to vary during the day so there are times where no fan is great and then a fan is necessary due to an abrupt change in direct sunlight I guess. Generally warm weather seems to feel good for the joints and easier to get a sweat going but joints aren’t a fan of the big changes in air pressure that comes with storms that tend to happen. Walking had felt fine. Debating if I was going to be needing fans or not for this session. Ended up forgoing them. Warming up was fine. Still some aches in the right knee. I guess similar to Monday. Keeping an eye on that. I’m not sure if it is just because increased workload the previous week and catching up to me or if this is because this week has been reduced weights and I’m “relaxing” a bit mentally. And by doing so, not mentally masking what my body and joints are feeling. I tend to feel those aches when I deload. Starting things off was the elevated wide pulls. I wasn’t too sure with how this contest peak was going to go as far as deadlifting but I had a general idea with everything else. Essentially next week is going to be my last touch of deadlifting with suit before competing and will be the only pull from the floor in suit and conventional. With that, I wasn’t sure if there would be changes to this opposite week session with the wide pulls. Because I can see continuing to push as well as pulling back. It would appear going the pulling back option here. So still using the same stuff but stopping the top set of 5 reps at 495lbs rather than going for more weight than last time. I will say that the initial set with 135lbs actually didn’t feel terrible on my knees like it sometimes does. Plate jumps and trying to take some rest to pace myself. Some sets felt really good and others not so much. I was a little worried that the top set would feel rough even though it is 70lbs under my best set of 5 reps. Possibly from knowing this wasn’t going to require a max effort to do but perhaps not being able to tap into the top end as easily as I feel I should. Again, may also be related to this isn’t something I haven’t done. I had hoped that 495lbs would feel pretty darn easy and it did not. It was a tougher than I would’ve liked. But I think that I probably didn’t spend as much time hyping up like I would’ve if this was for PR set of 5 reps. There is also not going for peak arousal when it is to be a “deload” like when I did 315lbs for 2 reps on front squats a few weeks back after tying PR double the session before and then doing top single the session after the deload. But I think I also have to note that I did more faster through the set. Usually it was more of a “breathing” set with the wide pulls with controlled lowering and taking a big breath at the top of each rep. And I didn’t need to do that to get through this set. But perhaps part of me is also worried that cutting out the two protein shakes during the day is cause for feeling “flat”. Lef things as they were so that I could try and move through the “bracing” enforcement part of the session so I could eat a bowl of oatmeal right after training and then do dinner a few hours later. Warming up with hyper extensions to get things loose for the rest of the workout was fine enough. Didn’t feel as fatigued considering the reduction in the load on the wide pulls. It appears I’ve reached the point where I’m not to be adding anymore resistance to the neck harness with the holds. At least not for this training cycle. I’ve grown fond/accustomed to this exercise every week. But adding 5lbs to the weight in hand. A bit easier as I could use bumper plates rather than deal with small change plates. I was to push the hold closer to failure going forward. So instead of leaving 10 seconds in the tank, only 5 seconds. This felt a little rough at the start but I was able to push through and get over 45 seconds. It is funny to me that at the start of these I was having a hard time getting close to this and not really leaving much in the tank. And now I can get close a minute with about the same weight. Only a slight break then as finishing up with the planks. The planks have remained unchanged and continue to still be good stimulus. It is hard to not make a full body contraction challenging. No fans going so I was working up a decent sweat on these planks. Side planks are always a little tricky with how they will feel. No issues with right side but left side sometimes feels a little off and harder to balance. That may be just from having to deal with balancing around the elbow bursitis. Ate oatmeal and put stuff away before stretching out.

May 4, 2024 – Week 20, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Sandbag Tosses (17’)
30x1
EMOM
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1
35x1

Sandbag Rows
150x5

Sandbag to Shoulders
150x1 R
150x1 L
200x1 R
200x1 L
250x1/250x1/275x1/300x1/325x0 L
325x1 L

Stretching
 
Comments: Allergies have been bad the past two days. Where I felt I needed to take stuff upon waking. Also WSM is happening and I’m kind of blah about it. Doesn’t mean I’m not checking updates and refreshing a spreadsheet like usual. But just not as exciting being able to watch like say the Arnold and Rogue Invitational. Plan was to wake up at my work time and get out to train to be done with things early. But that didn’t end up happening. Upon waking, I felt really tired and decided screw it and went back to bed and woke up about 2hrs later. I wasn’t going to force things and it definitely seemed like I needed the sleep as I have a hard enough time lately sleeping in that late when I don’t have an alarm. I didn’t have a lot to do really for training and I already had things packed up for training. Taking allergy meds seemed like the smart thing considering the past two days. Weather made it seem like it was going to be rainy in the morning and then not the rest of the day so perhaps it worked out for me. Nope. Apparently by no rain it meant rain all day with periods where it was only a little bit of rain. I had to stop and get gas before driving out and traffic was bad at spots so it definitely was closer to an hour driving out to train. Pretty much everyone was finishing up when I got there. The one person who comes out from Philly to train had been there and I had missed them as they were leaving. I wasn’t expecting them to be there after not being there for several weeks. Felt fine with warming up. I was keeping an eye on things as I was a little leery about the right knee being achy. It does seem to be feeling better from how it was feeling on Monday training. I kind of hoped that the rain would stop by the time I was ready but it didn’t. It didn’t the entire time I was there. So leading things off was bag toss. Bag toss every Saturday until contest time. This week being the “lighter” week. As written, the plan was to try and progress on the 30lbs and trying to do 10 singles EMOM and trying to toss it higher and higher if I can (last 2-3 being max effort). But to aim to do it with 35lbs. I had mentioned that I worried the every week might be too much as I was noticing it taking more effort but that could very well be not just bag toss but just the increased workload and ask I’m putting on my knees. So I did get approval to adjust to 25-30lbs on my light days as necessary. With the longer commute time, I felt it was best to do the warming up I was usually doing with swings and mobility and then clean pull tosses. My quads were quite tight when I tested out camel pose stretch, which would likely mean pulling on the patella. Also did some bounding but just small as my knees are creaky and achy. To think I used to do volleyball and jumped good. As far as the tossing higher, I can really just do that and hope it is going over the target more and more. But that isn’t always the case and I know that doing EMOM there is fatigue over the set and it can be tough to actually make it go higher. It still takes effort to leave the ground for any kind of jumping really. I can’t change the height on the toss tower quickly and as seen last week, the rigging isn’t secure if it isn’t at the spots that have bolts and such already in place. But I figured that I could make it higher by elevating it on 12” boxes. So 17’ for the toss tower. I’m not sure it would be secure going higher as that could be a difficult to move by myself or not be stable stacking multiple boxes. Especially not something to try out on a rainy day. But for today, I had a 17’ tower so technically any tosses would be a height PR even though I know I can toss a good bit over this with the planned weights anyways. My plan was to just do 30lbs as that was the easiest thing as there was already a bag at that weight and I didn’t need to bring my bag. But I figured I’d see how the first toss went and decide if I was feeling good to do 35lbs instead. My first tosses as of late with 30lbs have been pretty garbage. That toss felt really good and did what it should so I said screw it, make it 35lbs. It was a little jarring to see the clearance but I had to remind myself that this is a foot higher so it won’t look like as much compared to 16’. No tosses hit the band at any point. Fifth toss was the “worst” but that was due to my soft belt popping off as I tossed so it went a little squirrelly on me. Seventh and tenth tosses were the best of the bunch. Put stuff away and got ready for the sandbags inside. I was to work up to contest run as close as I could for one set for the shouldering and just how I’d do it at the show. So I didn’t need to do it for both sides beyond just warming up. I had to plan this out a little because moving all the sandbags to setup would take a good bit of time and I didn’t want to warm up and then set things up as I feared I’d cool off too much and then jumping in to do 50lbs more than the last warm up would not be great. So I got the series setup and got to warming up. Which started with rows. The 150lbs bag felt like nothing compared to how the 175lbs bag at home felt. Then I was to do 150lbs and 200lbs to each side for shouldering before the series run. I had to practice with going over the shoulder as that was the method of dismount I felt worked the best for me with running series beyond the one to be repped out. Gets the bag further away so not worried about tripping over it when moving to the next bag or when attempting the next bag. For the series, the contest is 250lbs, 265lbs, 287lbs, 300lbs and 325lbs with that last bag for reps with 60 seconds. They are allowing for “buzzer beater” reps as in that as long as the lift is initiated before time stops, you can complete the lift and have it count. I was advised to not go for a buzzer beater this run through and save it for next time. Didn’t quite have the lighter bags to get this right and it didn’t make sense to bring my 265lbs from home (the effort of putting in the trunk and taking out of the trunk in the rain no less). I had hoped there were two 275lbs bags but doesn’t look like it and I didn’t want to “repeat” a bag as I felt the transition and moving forward was more important. So I elected to do 250lbs for the first two bags. There were only some people in the gym and I didn’t feel comfortable asking them to do anything too complex. I had hoped to set my own timer but with spacing out the bags 5’ and keeping the timer away enough that it wasn’t in the way was too far away to be able to read at the start and figure out how much time was left before a minute started if I was attempting to do it myself. So I asked someone to give start commands and hit the timer only. The first two bags of 250lbs were easy. I knew the 275lbs wasn’t going to be that smooth because it was an underfilled bag and floppy bags are the devil on this event. I remember how this went down at 2022 Nationals. It is also the bag I strained the hamstring on. 25lbs under weight for the bag size. It took a bit of effort to shove up to the shoulder because of the floppiness but I got it. I knew that I needed to prepare myself for 300lbs. I’ve done a 3 bag shouldering series before and done a 4 bag over shoulder series. 300lbs was feeling tougher than I’d have liked with the pick. I rushed it for the shouldering and it was not clean. Count it for training since first time trying this through contest run but I’d not have given it in contest. I needed to go for the 325lbs as that was the plan for the day. I took a look at the time and say I had less than 30 seconds. Knowing this was probably going to be tough I took a breather before going. Felt tougher than the 300lbs bag and when I went for the pop, it didn’t feel like I had it high enough so I erroneously went back to the lap to try and pop it up again but higher. Nope, just killed all the power I had and I dropped it. Looked at time and I had less than 10 seconds and just called it there. Ugh. I feel I could’ve had it if I committed to that first pop and went ahead with the suckfest that was going to be shoving the bag up to the shoulder. But I didn’t want to leave things there. I rested few minutes and with knowing it was going to suck, went for the 325lbs by itself. That pick was a nightmare but I stuck with it fought through to get the rep. I can do it and I have to plan on just completing the series rather than worrying about getting reps on that last bag. The 325lbs is technically underfilled as it used to be 336lbs so 11lbs removed is making it not that firm. It’s not as bad as the 275lbs but it is noticeable especially compared to how firm my 305lbs bag is at home. It will just have to be a play it by ear at the show to see what condition the bags are in. I may also need to see if bearhug style is viable for the 300lbs and 325lbs bags. I had put on the fans in the gym for that series run as I was sweating a good bit from the humidity. I was sweating a good bit afterwards while eating. Man are sandbags a pain to put away after cooling down. You start to wonder how you even lifted them in the first place. Long rainy drive home before eating some more and stretching.