August 11, 2024 - August 17, 2024 - Week 10

 August 12, 2024 – Week 10, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ Bands (+14lbs/+22llbs)
No Bands
87x5
Add Bands
90x3
120x2
145x2
170x2
190x2
190x2
190x2
190x2
190x5

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
95x5
135x5
185x3
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
235x5
235x5

Bench Presses w/ Chains (+22lbs)
No Chains
45x15
Add Chains
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x2
270x5
270x5

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Training has been going well albeit over 5 months out from when I’m next competing. I know for sure I can hit contest weight for 3 of the events now (another is a max event so I guess that too) but of course I want to be better than good enough by that time. Work has been much more stressful since I got back from the one week vacation but trying my best to adapt to that. The new person for the unit that started last week quit this morning so shows how things are going. I’m feeling a little disillusioned with most amateur strongman stuff. The “bigger” shows seem to be costly and just not looking appealing seeing how they end up running. So I guess that helps with me sticking to the work I’m doing for the contest a ways off. Maybe prospects will be better for next year but not really holding my breath. One federation I can’t in good conscience support due to policy changes made in December that weren’t really published and the other two seem to be just increasing the prices on costs and the weights on my weaker events. The Pro/Am offerings have been sketchy. So I really don’t have anything besides this upcoming show on the horizon. But just thinking out loud. As far as myself, 280lbs even on Sunday check in. Boil water advisory continues but it should hopefully be resolved soon. Allergies were acting up in the late morning but thankfully went away without needing to take anything. It is cooler right now after the storm had passed. I didn’t quite go right into training after work as has been the case with just having to take a bit to just decompress before moving on to the next thing. Warming up was ok. Ankles a little stiff and right biceps a little tense. But really minor things. Starting off the actual training was log strict press. Same as last time with it being with bands and 4x2 with up 5 for a fifth set. Suggested increase was 5lbs. I’ll likely be sticking with that. My hope is that giving a week break between push press sessions will keep the knees happy and build up shoulders. Unlike say the lower body stuff with belt situation, I figured it was probably not smart to jump right into fully belted up sessions here because bracing and breathing. Figure I’ll do no hard belt for this session and next. I don’t feel I “need” the belts here but I want to allow my lower back to recover a little better to handle the heavier lower body stuff. It was probably a good call with not wearing all the belts as I was having issues with getting my breathing and bracing right today. Feeling lightheaded from holding my breath. I finally got that sorted out by the fourth double. Last set felt the best of them. Still, felt a good bit better than the other sets but nothing as dramatic as that one time two sessions back. From there, it was into the garage for chest supported barbell rows with pauses. Same as last time with it being 2x5 and the 2 second holds at contraction. Indication was to just add 5lbs to last time. Again, I feel I could’ve done more but listening to what is indicated here. Unlike last time, the weights were not feeling heavy in the hands without straps working. Weights were moving really easy. I was kind of surprised with that but I guess arms are getting used to the sandbag carry work. Straps on for the working weight. First set felt alright. I was not expecting the second set to feel even better. I guess I’ll just keep creeping up 5lbs here as well. This is one of the few exercises where the pauses and such lower the weight drastically from what I can do with some heaving but allow me to not be overdoing it and pick up with the powerful stuff no problem in short order. Benching was up next. Same as last week but adding 5lbs. With my own self-imposed support gear restriction I had continued for the last four weeks ending, my intent was to wear my wrist wraps for more support and to hopefully have lockout not be suboptimal of a movement. Especially with the bar configuration for the chains. I had a little whoops with the bar and chains added as I apparently missed the j-hook on the rerack on the left side. But light enough to just shove it back up there. Working up (besides that) was good. I do like how with the grip moved in that the progression of weight feels “normal” as opposed to when I was using the wider grip and it just felt heavy at 135lbs or 185lbs depending on the day. I was really hoping that I wasn’t wrong about the wrist wraps. This exercise had the caveat like the incline log stuff in that if I wasn’t feeling speedy that I was to drop the weight 10% for the second set. Well starting off I was worried I’d need to drop the weight after the first rep. But it had been a misgroove in that I had the weight too high up on my chest and once I adjusted bar placement for the following reps, it was smooth sailing. Second set was ok but not as powerful. Slow down with the lockout on the last rep. But still feel like it was within the parameters to keep the weight the same both sets. Unless I get told otherwise. I think I’ll know when I got to drop it down. For now, I’m recovering enough to keep progressing. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. Outside for these. I was advised to increase the band tension from a “light band” to a “medium band”. Can be hard to gauge. 2 sets of 15-20 reps. Can adjust the distance if necessary if I want to stick with the same band. I was debating between and average band and a strong band and decided that the average band fit the bill better as a “medium”. I also tend to pull with more biceps with the strong band at first if I’ve not worked up to it. Average band seemed to be the right call. Put stuff away as I cooked up dinner. Stretched after letting my stomach settle.

August 14, 2024 – Week 10, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
455x2
495x5

Step Ups (18”)
bwx20 L
bwx20 R
bw+15’sx10 L
bw+15’sx10 R

Single Leg Wall Sits
bwx51 seconds L
bwx51 seconds R

Crunches
bw+45x35

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x24

Stretching
 
Comments: Was definitely feeling stuff from Monday session. Feeling the tendons and ligaments in my shoulders and chest from the benching. Been a while since I felt that. I also noticed that I apparently have some bruising above my right ankle. No clue where that came from. As I’ve been mentioning with the new changes at work, I’ve kind of had to take a few moments to just decompress before moving on with my evening. Warming up felt fine. Despite how the chest and shoulders had been feeling the day before and today from Monday, they actually felt less tight compared to Monday warming up. Knees were feeling decent too. Some changes to this workout. Deadlifting but not from the floor or with bands. No bands meant setup time wasn’t going to be a hassle (which was why I let myself vegetate for a bit). The event for the competition is deadlift bar with wagon wheels at 13”. I don’t bother with deadlift bar really as I know how it feels and the whip and I’ll pull more on it then what I do in training all things considered. And I’ve been using my jackstands for the different height pulls for a while now. But I was advised to either be pulling with my weights on blocks or to get wheels training for this contest with how the feel will be and not have to worry so much about odd placement with lowering weights. I’ve only used the “wagon wheels” in training twice and haven’t really had issues I guess pulling on them in contest compared to what I was doing with the jackstands. But not terribly expensive to get them. Plan was to work up to a top set of 5 reps and treat them as soft/light touch and go reps. Not in that the weight was light. So unlike the past few weeks with pulls with 40-50lbs jumps, this was more like suited work and heavier stuff with plate jumps and then going to 40-50lbs jumps. The suggested top weight was 495lbs, which made sense with the progression on the deadlift. Going into this, I was expecting things to feel pretty solid and smooth for me. I mean, I had done 40lbs less bar weight from the floor for these reps with no belt and against bands (which made them more than this weight at the top). Well, I guess it was the right call to start using support gear for lower body stuff as this was feeling like more back than I wanted it to be. I should say that thankfully once I applied a hard belt to the equation that the bracing and less lower back sensation happened. Noticing that this would’ve been less than a month from Nationals definitely reinforces that not attempting to go for it with another contest and then competing was the right call. Getting ready for the top set, my lower back seized up a little on me so I was a little worried about going forward but it calmed down after a bit and I got set. I ideally would’ve liked this to feel a lot easier. It doesn’t look as slow as it felt on video. I’ve also been using the deadlift ply belt instead of hard belt as of late because I had been too big for my usual belt combos plus the thicker deadlift suit. I’ve been playing around with it as it would seem easier to pack for a flight. But I may try out my older and thicker belts assuming my bodyweight has dropped enough that it is doable. That was it for the heavy stuff. Might have gotten a bruise on my right knee. Outside for step ups. Not as hot out as it had been but still a bit sweaty. Starting things off with bodyweight. Only 20 reps this time around (as weight gets added to the weighted set). No knee sleeves here again. Left side has harder time with these compared to the right (though right has tougher time with the eccentric). Felt fine and not feeling like I was breathing hard like last time afterwards. The next part was a set with weight. Light weight. A set of 10 reps each leg using 15lbs kettlebells (I’ll have to use dumbbells next time). I kind of knew what to expect this time around with the herky jerky. It is possible that slightly more weight made it less likely I was going to do what I do but it does still seem like more left side vs right side. I also think I perhaps overthink it at the start. But this was fine. I was of course sweating a good bit after doing this and heading back inside. Single leg wall sits were next. Continuing the progression here with 5-10 seconds. Not trying more than 5 seconds on these because these just feel tough the whole time and just feel tougher after 30 seconds. I had attempted 50 seconds last time but had called it early at 45 seconds with how challenging it was. Well I guess I was going to have to do 50 today. I got set and started straining. I of course forgot for a moment to hit the timer so ended up being a second behind. Made it. But I was definitely going to count that extra second with how difficult this was. Just everything in the leg tensing to keep balance and hold the position. Also managed to get it for the right side. I definitely feel like over a minute is possible for me on these but my lord will it be uncomfortable. I think these are also getting tougher because I’m doing longer hold but still same rest between haha. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. I stuck to what I did last time with 45lbs. The iron plates with the grips in them just work ergonomically for this movement. I was a little hesitant with how quickly I was moving through things and just how my lower back had felt right before the top set of wagon wheel pulls. But thankfully no twinges on the ab work. Just felt like solid work. Again, using the 5 rep clusters in my head to get the set done. Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. I had been able to get this setup a little quicker compared to the past few times due to not using the bumper plates on deadlifting. I was a little leery since last time I did these there was some tension in the lower back. I did not have that issue this time either. Similar to last time in being easy until they weren’t. I was very tempted to call it at just one extra rep but made it a double (had to talk myself out of 25 reps) and leave something in the tank. Put stuff away and cleaned up before eating dinner and then stretching.

August 17, 2024 – Week 10, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke (turf)
300x50’
400x50’
500x50’
600x50’
700x50’

Sandbag Loads (58“)
250x1
250x1
EMOM
300x1
300x1
300x1
300x1
300x1

Sled Pushes (turf, 60 seconds rest)
195x50’/195x50’
195x50’/195x50’
195x50’/195x50’
195x50’/195x50’
195x50’/195x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: Work and such has just been dumb so I just keep doing what I can and not take it personally. Do my job and hopefully help people in need. I was initially planning to sleep in a little and by little, I mean wake up at my work time as the past two weekends got up an hour earlier than that to assist with a friend’s training. I had assumed this would be an easy, light week for them but I guessed wrong so doing four events again (two needing assistance). Luckily that arrived early enough in the evening that I could go to bed early enough to be rested up. The drive out has been smoother leaving early anyways. Cooler out than the past two days but a little muggy. But nowhere near as bad as it was two weeks ago. But still doing the multiple shirts so as to keep dry for stuff. I was a little leery my knees would be achy with how they were feeling in the morning but was pleasantly surprised with how things were feeling warming up. There were a lot of people there today. I was a bit surprised that some people were training when competing next Saturday. But I tend to be surprised with how others train when, even when they have a coach. People saying they don’t feel good or end up with an injury warming up poorly. Not my monkeys, not my circus. With all the people, it felt that if I was going to have to wait around for lanes on the concrete to open up to do stuff that I should just move to the wind tunnel and do it on tuft since that is likely what contest is going to be. If anything, it is a good training stimulus. So yoke on the agenda and plan was to set of 700lbs for 50’. I was a little leery on the pick for this with how lower back can feel and the knees but I figured that since I’d be putting on the support gear like I did with farmer’s walk last week, that it should be good. I was up in the air on knee sleeves and it was pretty much seeing how things felt setting up and warming up for the day. Felt fine enough so no knee sleeves. Like farmer’s walk, this was to be not max speed. Not super slow but not super fast. Taking it for a stroll. I elected to just start at 300lbs rather than 200lbs which isn’t much more than the empty yoke. I already had to carry it across the gym anyways empty. 100lbs jumps here. Switched to a dry shirt from what I wore warming up (using that shirt between exercises if wearing anything). I was trying to be very casual with my excitation here. Just another day at the office. Make sure I’m not rushing things and getting a good solid brace on the pick. Felt comfortable albeit heavy as it is. Next was sandbag loads. Well not quite. I had to help out with event work and then once they were done, I moved on to sandbag. I do an event, they do an event where assistance is needed and so on. So this was a little bit of change. Still 300lbs sandbag load but unlike last time where it was just a set of 5 reps after warming up, I was to do the good ole EMOM stuff. Idea being to make this 300lbs fly over the bar. I mean, already doing 10” over the contest height for the load here. Warming up I felt it didn’t really make much sense to use the 200lbs sandbag so I just started at 250lbs and did two singles with no support gear. The picks feel slow to me. For 300lbs, I added soft belts and chalked up my shirt and arms. None of this was “needed” but wanted to provide some more support and have things similar to how I will be at contest. I will be allowed to use a grip shirt there but I’d rather wait until it is cooler out to bother with that claustrophobic heat trap nonsense. I’ve done this before with higher crossbar and slightly heavier bag when training at home with the lockdown stuff in 2020. Everything after the pick is easy stuff here. But I have to remind myself that the pick has never been super easy with the bags and sliding up the shins. There have been times where it has felt harder and got caught on stuff and times it feels easy. I made sure that I was setting my grip and my feet on these rather than rushing. No sense in doing that until actually putting the whole shebang together (run, load, run). This went about as expected really. Both yoke and sandbag work did. Last thing being the sled work. Another break here not just because helping with event setup but also due to the wind tunnel space being used for a bit. I wasn’t in hurry for this as this pushing on turf is a lot more tiring than the backwards sled drags. It was getting more humid so just ditched the shirt so I’d have something somewhat dry for getting home. Continuing to be 5 sets of 100’ with 60 seconds rest. I was somewhat hopeful this would feel easier with the less volume from other stuff as I found the sled drags felt pretty easy comparatively. But nope, these will always feel terrible, just a little less terrible than usual. With not having to “add 10-20lbs” each session and adjusting as needed, I went with the same weight as last time. I didn’t feel like I was melting like last time. I felt I was going at a decent and consistent pace here. But we’ll never know because I apparently got distracted and didn’t hit record so I guess it didn’t happen then haha. Oh well, this is the thing that I don’t really need a “coaches eye” on anyways as it is just work. Put stuff away and ate my meal before driving home to stretch and eat some more.