August 18, 2024 - August 24, 2024 - Week 11

 August 19, 2024 – Week 11, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
36x10+5
66x5+3
96x3+2
126x2+1
156x2+1
186x2+1

Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
206x2
206x2
206x2
206x2
206x5

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 19
abx5 at pin 19
lbx5 at pin 19
lbx5 at pin 15

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ Bands (+5lbs/+25lbs)
87x8
117x5
147x3
177x2
197x1
222x5
222x5

Chin Up Holds
bw+15x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+40x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: Feeling a little off mentally at the moment. I think stress related as there are a few things going on. Things I don’t expect to affect me but they do. But most things are working out and not needing me to be anxious for them. But hard to not be reflexive and reactive. Continuing on with stuff but it is more exhaustive than I’d like and that extra effort to keep up is possibly why I’m feeling a little worn mentally. In turn, I worry that I’m not going to be where I want to be on certain things by competition time (even though 5 months out) and I realize it is silly to be stressing about that now. Training has been good and consistent with the progression and progress. Weight same as last week which is fine. Rain off and on Saturday through Monday. Walking Sunday ended up being during periods of rain. I needed to be moving around. Warming up for the session felt ok. Maybe knees were a little achier than I would’ve liked. I’d see how things felt later to see if adding sleeves made sense. Upper body was feeling the sandbag work from Saturday still. Axle to start things off. Continuing from last time with the introduction of push pressing. I was hopeful that things would feel better this time around. It generally does. The start of it being combo of strict pressing into push pressing. Essentially the plan today was to do the same thing as last time but with 10lbs more on every set. I made some slight adjustments to what I did last time to take into consideration something I noticed doing the push pressing. With push press, the chains are bit more “wild” vs when I strict press. This is also probably why doing chains may actually be helpful with making my overhead more efficient. The chains were banging into the rack arms at times and it was a bit claustrophobic. So I added collars to push the chains out a little more as well as walked out the weight from the rack like I usually do for push pressing. Save the staying in the rack for the strict log work. The walking out also kind of teaches me to be patient with weight and kind of getting used to how the recovery on the catch from clean will be. These changes seemed to be mostly helpful in this regard. The working up with strict and push press felt better compared to last time. The top set did feel decently heavy on my shoulders and arms. Gradually adding support here so just my thin soft belt here. Added 20lbs for the push press work. That first set felt really heavy and rough. I think my joints were a little achy and I accidentally went for a rebound rep on the second rep instead of what I’ve been doing of resetting each rep. Second set felt a ton better but I did hesitate with my feet with how I placed them as I felt I hit a rough spot with my right foot. Third set I got a little startled by neighbors doing some construction project so I lost a little tightness there but it was better than the first set still. Fourth set was ok. Fifth set for the repping out. The first three reps felt great but the chains swaying when I brought that third rep back down got it a little too close to my throat so I had to kind of take my time to get last two reps. Lower back was definitely not as stiff as it was last time I did these and I felt the disconnect was less this time. I have to also remind myself that the weight on the bar without chains is not accurate as there is always like 10lbs at least even in the bottom added and it is close to 30lbs at the top added. The chains move a good bit watching video, which I don’t think happens as much on say front squats or bench press (the other lifts I use the chains on). Hopefully I can keep with the progression here and add bit by bit to assistance gear. Then to the exercises that I don’t worry about so much (because not directly corresponding with an event). Band assisted pull-ups after that. Same as last time with 2x5 but do a slightly harder set of 5 reps for the first working set and then an easier set for the second one. Advised to make the first set a little tougher this time but keep the second set the same as last time. So lowered the pin height one more setting for the working up stuff with swapping band tension assistance. I was a little concerned maybe about biceps and forearms as they were feeling the sandbag. Funny how there is a difference in how they feel vs holding a bag for a minute or more vs just grabbing and tossing a bag 5 times. Not as humid today so didn’t feel need to chalk up hands. I was actually feeling good warming up (usually my second to last set feels crappy) so I had a feeling this would be a good one. Shoulders were feeling a little achy with how fast I was pulling the first set but seemed to chill out the second set. Both were good and powerful. Then incline log pressing. Same as last time, add 5lbs and attempt the 2x5. If not feeling speedy enough, drop 10% for the second set. Initially not feeling great but something seemed to click after the first set warming up and felt good. I think it has to do with bracing on the unrack of the weight. Overall, I feel these felt better than last time. As in the first four reps were good and then a slow down on the last rep. This was the same on both working sets. I feel like still in the spirit of things with how they went. But I will likely need to consider reduction in weight on the second set for both this and bench with chains in the near future (assuming they continue this progression to the next block). Last thing for the session being the weighted hangs for the upper body. I had forgotten I was to do these and thought it was just going to be face pulls with band. Nope. Both are for just 20 seconds (and then extra time stuff) and if I hit that, I can increase weight next time. I was successful with that last time for both so added weight. Chin up hold only up 5lbs. Granted, this is the one that was harder and I had only gotten near 40 seconds with bodyweight on my best effort. Adding weight on this one is noticeable with even just small jumps. It was a bit tougher than I’d have liked it to be to get 20 seconds before doing the 8 second eccentric. That always feels nice. Then active shoulder hangs to wrap things up. 10lbs added on this one so 40lbs to the waist. Thankfully it is enough weight on the dip belt that it doesn’t need to be twisted up to keep from hitting the ground at the bottom. This was definitely the most challenging this has been for this particular hold. I also attempted to be as deliberate as I could with the relaxing part. I didn’t want to go fast and I didn’t want to completely relax my lower back as I find doing that can lead to traction on my lower back which it doesn’t like very much in this way (fine on a dipping station, not pullup station). I might have been a little slow with my count on this one. Put stuff away and got to cooking dinner. Ate and stretched out afterwards.

August 21, 2024 – Week 11, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
260x2
295x3
295x3
295x3

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+75x20 seconds

Planks
bw+70x60 seconds

Side Planks
bwx60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I was feeling a bit better mentally. Once I realize I’m stressed, I tend to relax a little and not be so hard on myself. Take appropriate measures to try and bring that down. Like figuring out the discomfort is from a metaphorical pebble in my shoe. Take it out and hopefully the discomfort will stop. At least until the next one gets in there. I thankfully didn’t have as much work Wednesday. And by that, I mean I didn’t really get any new work but so I spent all day finishing up the work I was doing the day before. With how things have been, I seem to spend the first half of the day finishing up what I did in the second part of the day the previous day because I tend to get all the “new work” assigned to me after my lunch break. It is frustrating. But I know it is going to be going into it each work day and I can only do what I can. These middle of the week sessions (now that not doing the banded deadlifts) are generally shorter in length than the other workouts so I could afford a little bit of deload after work to get myself ready for the training mindset. Warming up was feeling fine mostly. Knees were feeling the push pressing from Monday. So aches. I was seriously considering going lighter on front squats if things were still feeling not so great as I got warmed up. But besides the knees (mostly the right), everything else was ok with warming up and felt needed. My neck and upper back definitely get a little tense after the hangs/holds from the Monday session. As mentioned, front squats with chains for the start of the session. Again, the plan was 3x3 with the back up plan of lighter for 2x5. I’ve not really asked what the 2x5 weight would be to be light really as I kind of hope I don’t have to back off. I’d have to guess it would be like 250ish if that was the last I did the 2x5 at before becoming 3x3 and that was beltless. But if sticking to the 3x3, it was to be 5-10lbs more than last time. My intent was just 5lbs more as that was how the suggested workout was listed for this one. There wasn’t an issue with the knees with actually doing the front squats here but just that initial unrack so I knew that if I got myself more and more warmed up and was a bit more deliberate with getting under the weight to walk it out that I should be ok. But obviously monitor things as I added weight and working up. Even if I was doing the 2x5, I’d likely still do the same warming and working up that I was going to do besides the last set before working set. Shoulder joints were feeling a little achy, like they’d done work recently. The hard belt being added definitely had things feeling better for me with how the weight was feeling on my lower back and with bracing. At that point I decided I’d just go up 10lbs instead of 5lbs from last time. I had noticed how fatigued my legs were feeling last time where I was expecting them to feel stronger with the belt added. Perhaps that being unexpected last time had me a little more ready for that and it never manifested. The working weight sets felt solid and adding 10lbs was definitely the right call for this session. Seemed to be moving better with each set at least as far as the lower legs. I could tell that it was getting a little tough to keep the upper back tight and keep the bar from getting a little forward on me. Little bit of a break putting some stuff away before getting on with the rest of the training session. Warming up for back extension holds with reps. Told to only do 20 reps this time. Which was fine. It still feels like enough reps to get the blood flow and light up the hamstrings. This definitely felt like a enough about halfway into these. This exercise can be deceptive in how much it makes the hamstrings and glutes burn with higher rep sets. Even if just a “warm up”. The warming up being for the holds with the neck harness and weights in hand. The short and heavy cycle. 20 seconds being the max time but leaving some seconds on the clock. I knew from last time that the weight will feel substantial on my neck from the harness. No weight added there but 5lbs added to what I was holding. Adding weight anywhere really makes this tougher. I prefer 10lbs jumps and such because I worry the smaller plates will slide out on me. But I figured a way to do it that it didn’t happen so I was placated enough here. This felt quite tough to get into position and I was worried that I’d not get 20 seconds but then it started to feel fine as I got closer to the time and I probably held it a little longer than 20 seconds just to make sure before setting down. So that went well. Plank time. Surprisingly, I was advised I could add a little more weight to the weighted standard planks that I was doing. Even though these seem to be going well, adding more weight by myself with the backpack is getting cumbersome. And I’m not really noticing much difference from the added weight. Granted, the initial time adding weight did (53 going to 59lbs) but since then it has not felt much different. In fact, this time with 6lbs more might have been easier than last time. This isn’t the most weight I’ve done on a weighted plank (I’ve done 30 seconds holds with like twice this using smith machine). Feeling fine doing it and I generally feel like my breath is controlled on these. Then side planks. Still no weight added to these. Just bodyweight again. I’m curious about adding weight to these but perhaps it is best since these are good bit more temperamental compared to standard planks. For instance, I was able to do braced breathing relaxed on the right side but not really on the left side this time around. Though it isn’t like the braced breathing is the only reasons for doing these. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out.

August 24, 2024 – Week 11, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk (turf)
105x50’
155x50’
205x50’
255x50’
305x50’

Sandbag Carries
turns at 15’
250x30’ (load style)
250x30’ (bear hug)
turns at 50’, on turf
300x218’5” (load style)
300x216’2” (bear hug)

Sled Drags
35x100’
135x50’
225x50’
60 seconds rest
265x100’
265x100’
265x100’
265x100’
265x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: Work continues to be a pain and there are little things that happen with life outside of my own that happen. So stressful things but I guess I already know and accept that so I can still function. Even though my friend that was training early was in Ireland competing this weekend and for obvious reasons didn’t need help with setting up and tearing down, I still decided it made sense to get up and go out earlier to train. Traffic isn’t as bad getting out to train and it does afford me more time to take my time with pacing my workouts and being able to help out with other people training. I’ve come to realize that I can’t really help myself when it comes to that. I was debating getting up as early as I did as I was feeling a bit tired and perhaps wanted to sleep in but figured I’d just go to bed earlier. Another competitor/friend indicated they’d be out at the gym as well so it made sense to get out earlier to make sure I could help and be able to get my stuff down. There was also the possibility of road closures for construction which were happening later in the day so made sense to avoid that. I felt ok waking up. Some joint aches but I didn’t feel like I needed to take any allergy meds, which I’ve been doing pretty much every time I head out to train. Weather seemed like it was going to be nice. Caught a little of the livestream in Ireland before heading out. Get an idea of the pace of things there in the event I qualify for next year. Lot of people at the gym for the strongman stuff as I’ve come to expect with the upcoming competition. There were some people coming from a ways away to train on the conan’s wheel for Nationals since neither of them had any access to one. The amount of setup that thing needs and weights needed to get to expected contest weight has me glad I didn’t retry getting my ticket to nationals this year. I’m going to have to see how things shape up with the reorganization for next year to see if it is worth my time. My current membership is good until middle of May next year. Warming up I was feeling so-so. At times, it was feeling like I was having a hot flash so I was a little worried it was something anxiety related (but usually those I feel cold). No clue what that was about but I figured that I’d probably need to be mindful of how things go and not overdo it. Besides that and the knees feeling a little more achy than I’d like, I was ready to go. First thing for the day was farmer’s walk. Same as last time with not quite normal speed and doing with 50’ runs and 50lbs per hand jumps in weight. But more weight than last time. I was debating knee sleeves today but I do want to try and wait until this current block (next week) is done and when I’m allowed to go back to full steam ahead speed here. My knees were feeling stiff but only with getting into position to pick up the weights. There was no issue actually with lifting the weights or walking with them. That all felt fine. I didn’t feel any issues per se doing the runs but again the pick was feeling a bit rougher than I’d like. It is also possible that I’m not getting 100% hyped up for these at this point. It was feeling like I wasn’t really getting the glutes helping with the pick and it was feeling a little more lower back working up than I’d like. I may need to adjust the belt situation going forward depending on how wagon wheel pulls go this coming week. I had been using this belt combo due to breathing restrictions with my increased bodyweight from my previous belt setup and having to move between implements. That isn’t the case for this contest and I’ve gotten back down close to weight I was when I was wearing the other setup of soft and hard belts. The pick with 305lbs (which funnily enough is the most I’ve put on these handles to do an actual run with) felt better than 290lbs did last time. I’d prefer it didn’t feel as slow as it did. But can’t be upset being almost 5 months out from contest at a little under 97% contest weight and it not needing me to be super duper hyped up to do it comfortably. The next thing was sandbag carries. Same as last time. 300lbs for the working sets of 2 max distance carries with different hold styles. Plan being to beat the distances of last time which I should be able to do. I was slightly concerned about the pick up of the sandbags as my left pec tie-in tendon was feeling a little achy. That was also on my mind with the farmer’s but that is not a wide grip so it was minimal. Here that could be an issue. Thankfully it didn’t. With the lanes in use (I was going to do it on turf again anyways to have consistency and event specificity) it didn’t make sense for me to do as many warming up sets compared to last week. So just did 250lbs for a set each style. The last set I felt a sensation where my legs just felt like they had no power. It has happened only a scant few times but it is weird and hard to figure out why it happens. But maybe the warming up was enough to get that out of the system. I knew roughly the distances I did last time and they were closer together in both styles compared to that first week. Switched out my shirt and I wore soft belts and chalk this time (no knee sleeves). First set pick up felt decent and I felt like I was doing well and then about halfway down that first length the “jelly leg” sensation happened and I was worried I was going to lose the bag before I got to first turn. I was able to grit my teeth and will myself out of it and my legs went back to normal and I proceeded as normal. I was able to get a few feet more than last time. Bear hug style the pick felt better with the soft belt on vs no belt. I was kind of surprised how good this felt but I was going a little slower than I’d like. I definitely slowed down on the last turn and wanted to get a little further. I knew I was close to the distance I did with the load style this time around. I got a bit more distance over last time compared to the load style. Both runs from pick to drop were about a minute and a little over. So at least lets me know I can carry for the duration. Took my time with putting things away and helped with taking plates back in from the people doing conan’s wheel. I was not in a rush to do the sled drag work. I figured that these were going to feel tougher than they did last time because of twice having the “jelly leg” feeling on sandbag. I went up 5lbs just because of how comfortable last time had felt and that 5lbs was noticeable. Granted, I could tell just working up with my warming up that there was more fatigue compared to last time. 5 sets of 100’ with minute rest. Or at least attempting to. No shirt to catch some sun and have something dry to wear home. First run was fine. I accidentally took 90 seconds rest because some people got out the Rolling Thunder handle and walked up no chalk or warm up and pulled 195lbs with both hands (which apparently is 15lbs and 25lbs off my PR from over a decade ago) before moving on to my second set. I of course got accused of having “those monkey hands” lol. But I could tell as I did these sets that I was feeling a decrease in speed more so than last time. And then the fifth set feeling a bit tougher. Not as drastically bad as it has been but it was a chore compared to last time. I took my time putting stuff away and cleaned up in the gym. I apparently was the last person there so I also closed up things as well. Drive home was ok and stretched out when I got home.