September 22, 2024 - September 28, 2024 - Week 16

September 23, 2024 – Week 16, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Push Presses
87x5
117x2
147x2
177x2
177x2
177x2
177x2
177x2

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
100x5
150x5
200x5
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
250x5
250x5

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

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Feeling some level of normalcy with stress. About 275lbs at this point. Watched what I could with scores and video with Nationals. This year wouldn’t have been a good one for me to do with prep and such for sure, especially not as open HW class. Doesn’t sound like any details for next year were provided at this time. Got stuff done Sunday besides sleeping in. Glad my joints aren’t feeling like they did two week’s prior. Probably also good that didn’t have anyone I care about die starting this week off as well. It is fall now and with the tropical storms in the south still brewing, it takes longer for the deary and rainy weather to dissipate since it is cooler out now. I had gotten walking done Sunday before it started to rain. It rained most of the day Monday and looks like it will be the case for the next few days. So probably good that this session was going to be somewhat backing off on stuff due to shoulders and triceps needing more recovery. Needed to not dilly-dally since I tomorrow is the in office day and have to prep for that. I was hoping it would stop raining but no real luck there. Warming up was ok. There was stuff still achy and sore. I did increase one weight for an exercise by 5lbs just so that it was easier for weight reasons going forward. Starting things off with log. No bands this week and also push press. Dropping weight 25lbs from what I was strict pressing with bands. 5x2 with the option to rep out the last set for 5 reps. I already knew I wasn’t doing reps after figuring out some things with how I think I need to proceed with upper body training. For whatever reason, push press out of the rack with log feels awful. The only place where it ever felt good was when I was training at the YMCA on that one tiered squat rack. Anywhere else and it feels uncomfortable and just kills my knees. Plus my form feels off. Like I can do strict pressing fine and other support things with log but not push press (or really any lower body drive with log). Clean the log once or every rep is also fine for push press. So not thrilled on the menu but doing it as indicated. I could tell with just the empty log it was not going to feel great. I had to fiddle around with the rack height to get things feeling a bit better. Felt uncomfortable but did feel better as I went. Not saying much there. No support gear besides knee sleeves for the knee discomfort. Just did my doubles and got out of the rain and into the garage. My right medial deltoid decided to get sore after the last set. Feeling similar to how my shoulder has felt when I get a flu shot so not a great sensation. And obviously indicating that backing off was the right call. Chest supported barbell rows with pauses out of the rain. Continue to push the weight up by 5lbs with 2x5 and having the option to lower to 30lbs less or so from the top set weight for that second set if I felt like I couldn’t keep things going like how benching exercises had been. I’ve done rows when stuff has felt uncomfortable in other parts of my body. Sometimes it’s the only thing that goes well in those cases. I could feel that shoulder with rotation of shoulder (internal and external). But as long as it wasn’t feeling worse, I could hopefully recover with rest. Sometimes these aches and pains feel better the more I do and the heavier I get. 50lbs jumps with sets of 5 reps. I will say this was the closest I felt to needing to drop weight on the second set. I think part of it was feeling the blahs from the weather, knowing I was deloading pressing and the shoulder discomfort. I also know with the rows that usually there isn’t a decrease in performance set to set on this exercise and sometimes my second or even fifth set feels the best. So finished up here before moving onto benching. I was a little leery with the benching. The shoulders were feeling achy and the right one feeling how it was at this point was not having me feel confident. But it was a different kind of achy and maybe the movement would actually shift something into the right spot so not feeling crap. Same setup of benching with chains. But dropping back down to 225lbs for the sets. Make them speed reps again. I could feel like my lats were actually doing something this time around so that was a good sign I guess. I was leery about the shoulder and had to find that balance of being fast but tight. Unrack the first set was a little squirrelly but settled in. Second set I was almost too loose unrack and tightened up to slow down and lock in before repping out. Managed to get down no worse for wear. I know knee is feeling better as knee wasn’t bothering me like last time laying on the bench or using lower body drive to brace. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. It was raining off and on still and I decided it was quickest to just do these in the garage. I was kind of hoping here that these would start having the shoulders feeling good. They tend to do that for me. Not as miraculous a change this time but still noticeable where it seemed to have the shoulders feeling somewhat better from how they were earlier in the session. Finished with prepping dinner as I put away stuff from outside (I had used the rubber weights to anchor done the rack for log) and in the garage before eating. Stretched and cleaned up for bed as I’d have to wake up an hour earlier for making it into the office tomorrow.

September 25, 2024 – Week 16, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
495x2
565x3

Step Ups (18”)
bwx20 L
bwx20 R
bw+20’sx15 L
bw+20’sx15 R

Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds

Crunches
bw+50x30

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x25

Stretching
 
Comments: Despite shoulder issue Monday and having to go into the office for the day Tuesday (and no walking) and it being rainy going on today, feeling pretty good. Like almost relaxed at this point. Probably helping that workload this week hasn’t been as crushing. Maybe it is because my folks are back and I’ve already been over for dinner twice since they got back and watched garbage movies. Or that the next block of training has been figured out and hopefully the changes will have the positive impact. I was kind of hoping it would stop raining today as it would potentially make things a bit tricky with setup for some exercises. But I had checked out things Monday and it seemed doable for everything to be in the garage if necessary. Warming up was ok. Some joint aches but that was kind of expected with how Monday went. Wagon wheel pulls to start things off. Same as last time with soft touch and go reps but working up to a top set of 3 reps. It seems that idea is to leave something in the tank as the next session will be for a much closer to a 3rm set. Essentially plate jumps before the top set. No body aches like last time to deal with and have me second guessing. Also trying to keep an eye on uneven touch downs with the weights as well. Doesn’t seem to be too much rhyme or reason to it but either my grip is slightly off on side or the other or the garage floor isn’t quite even in spots. Considering this is a spot where the weights tend to not roll away, it probably is something like that. The big jumps here I made sure that I took appropriate rest and didn’t rush things like if it was more like 30-50lbs jumps. But really, it was going to be those last two plate jumps that would be my indicators for how things were going. I had already expected fully to be doing 565lbs for the top set after doing 545lbs last time. 405lbs continues to not feel great but it was the best it has felt over the past few workouts. So that had me feeling like this should be a sure thing if it felt the worst last time and I did what I did. But would also need to see how the next jump with the hard belt would be. Working on getting a bit more of a hamstring hip hinge thing going on breaking the weight off the floor and priming. It felt ok. I wasn’t dealing with a max hype situation here for this so I knew I had another level to go for the top set. Made sure I got things chalked up and prepared for the braced pulls with breaths at lockout to get good, quality reps with the touch and go. Rushing it hasn’t been a good thing on these kind of lifts with the control needed. It gets exhausting. As planned, it was not a max triple. There is definitely more there. Hopefully enough that I can go 585lbs next time. This was similar reps in the tank compared to the 545lbs from last time. I could be repping the contest weight in a months time (I mean like a double but still). Settled down from there and got some stuff put away before moving on to the lighter stuff of the session. Step ups was tricky. I had to make sure I could stand up on the box in my garage. I can if I stand under the ceiling light as it is a recessed fixture. I usually go outside as less room for error but I didn’t trust doing these with it raining as it was. Too much risk of slipping on stuff and eating it big time. Starting things off with bodyweight. Knee sleeves on, no ifs, ands or buts. Making sure wearing these for recovery on the knees. These went fine I guess. I was expecting to have to take a little break here to get the dumbbells setup but then I realized I got big hands and could actually hold my 10lbs kettlebells and 10lbs dumbbells at the same time and not have it be too thick a grip that it would tax grip unnecessarily. So that allowed me to kind of move right along. So 12-15 reps here. The herky jerky movements didn’t seem to be as present. Maybe because I realized there was a ceiling above where raising my hands above my head would be unwise. Adding weight was tougher than no weight but this went pretty well for me. It does look like next time will repeat this. Wall sits were next. It was written as the single leg variation for a minute again but considering that going back to regular style next time and staying there to let my knees recover better, I figured I’d just do that this time instead. That isn’t to say it isn’t worthwhile doing. I can certainly get into a deeper squat position with both legs and not feel as much knee joint stress and quads still want to act up here. I figure that if I’ve stayed pretty much the same with other things like planks and other abdominal work, there wasn’t any shame in another isometric exercise staying at a certain spot for some time. This would also speed up the workout. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. The choice to go with the change in weights on these had been fruitful with a 5lbs jumps in weight making it really tough again. So I was ready this time. It was not as rough going this time. Maybe because not as taxed from doing regular wall sits vs single leg. But able to get 5 more reps added. Still feels a bit away from 35 reps here. Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. This was also tricky with setting up in the garage and making sure it fit as well as being safe. The thing is that this was a quicker setup to do and the way the flimsy rack is made actually has a little back support thing so that I can stop my swinging and be able to reset the movement from a dead stop without having to have my feet touching the ground. Also gives me a tactile notification of the reps. I did forget at the start about holding for a count the first rep so didn’t count it. 25 reps does seem to be my limit here but I did do an extra rep not paused so I guess I’m getting a little better from last time. Put stuff away before getting dinner ready. Stretched afterwards.

September 28, 2024 – Week 16, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke (turf)
235x50’
335x50’
435x50’
535x50’
635x50’
735x50’
835x50’ in 19.65 seconds

Sandbag Loads
60“
225x1
275x1
325x0
325x0
58”
325x1
325x0
325x1
EMOM
306x1
306x1
306x1
306x1
306x1

Yoke Pushes (turf, 50 seconds rest)
205x50’/205x50’
205x50’/205x50’
205x50’/205x50’
205x50’/205x50’
205x50’/205x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: I’ve been a little less stressed this week. I guess noticeably so as I’ve not had eye twitches going. It has been rainy off and on all this week and looks like that will continue into the next week. But it has been mostly light rain so just making sure when going for walks that is while there is daylight out in some capacity. So lunch break. Not going to sweat working through breaks for my own health. I can only do so much. But with the rain my allergies have been acting up but not hitting until a little later in the mornings. Friday hit me hard where my throat was tightening up from irritants and thankfully went away after a few spritz from the nasal spray. Plan for the day was to get up early to train. Like hour before I’d get up for work. But I was not feeling it and ended up hitting snooze for a half hour. I had everything packed up the night before so I wouldn’t be needing a ton of time besides digesting breakfast to get out to train. As long as I got out of the house before 10:00AM, I’d likely not have the traffic congestion issues. And I did so I didn’t. Only thing of note I guess with my body was left side base of skull and jaw was feeling stiff and it could just be from sleep and strain from this week and the previous but just delayed. But it wasn’t effecting anything. The gym atmosphere felt pretty chill. It didn’t really feel like anyone there besides me was really training something at my intensity. I know one person has a show in a month (but just three events) and another in like two months (not all events released) and another in a bit over 5 months. Another is a maybe for a show in June. Which was fine by me as that likely meant I’d have access to everything I needed today without sharing. Warming up felt fine. Knees continue to feel better from how they felt three weeks ago. Still keeping an eye on the right shoulder as far as aches and such. I know that my upper body is still taking a bit to recover at this point but hopefully feeling right as rain this coming week or next at the latest. First up was yoke. Trying to ride the train of heavy stuff a little bit longer. As long as I can. I had accidentally gone over 800lbs last time when really it was to be 40lbs less that I did. Things changed when the event weights for most of the events changed (but really, we are months out so no harm, no foul). 770lbs had been meant to be testing contest weight. Well now contest weight is 700lbs. 790lbs had been the plan maybe if I felt good and I thought 800lbs was close enough and sounded better and then misloaded it by 10lbs. It was a challenging run for me with the slant of the road outside my house (so had to pick a little lower) and how unexpectedly unstable my new yoke was. But even with all that, we thought it was good enough to keep pushing that. The plan would be 830lbs for today. I decided to do a little more than that with 835lbs because the empty “monster yoke” (which Rogue Fitness no longer makes) is 235lbs (I weighed it months back) so I could just do that empty and add 100lbs. It would be close enough and I could make this yoke stable with the pins and screws. So best chance at success. It may not seem like the best thing to be aiming for 135lbs over contest weight 4 months out but bear with me. My yoke tends to feel best with moving fast when I’ve worked up heavy. My yoke in 2018 when I worked up to 1000lbs for contest (I was beat) I was able to do some of my best yoke runs in contest and in training for speed at 700lbs and 800lbs range. I however ended up with a relapse in back pain end of 2018 doing sandbag loads after 825lbs yoke run just over 10 seconds for 50’ and I’ve not been back over 770lbs in training for runs until just the last training session. And it showed as I was good for about half to 2/3rds the way and then slowed down a ton. Having like 200lbs in reserve is helpful here for me when some times warming up is not great due to contest length and my height being quite a disparity with others. Anyways, back to training. Going forward it will appear doing heavy and speed. So heavy this time. I kind of want to keep pushing what I can do on turf with how much more effort it requires of me and that this contest coming up is supposedly on turf. It has been a while since I’ve used this yoke. I plan to use this one for the heavy weeks and the lighter/wobblier yoke setup for the speed weeks and when doing around contest weight stuff as likely what will be used. Little bit of learning curve as the spacing on the pin heights isn’t exact between all the different yokes and making sure I’m moving well and not having the implement hitting the ground as I move or as the weight starts to compress me. Not sure what weight it was but I smacked the back of my head on a set working up and I didn’t want to do that again haha. Despite it being cooler this week, it was still humid and I was sweating a good bit. I wasn’t feeling terribly confident in how things would go as I got to 635lbs as it didn’t feel like last time’s weight had. It didn’t feel terribly speedy so also miffed about that. But 735lbs felt a lot better and felt smooth. So I was back to believing again. 835lbs would not be the most I’ve attempted with turf. 960lbs had been in 2018 turning that half ton prep. Got on a dry shirt and chalked up and did my best to calm my nerves. And I was off. The pick felt better compared to 810lbs and I was feeling like I was going at a decent pace. But I again seemed to get to a spot where I was fatiguing fast and started to get off balance and I felt that if I kept going at the pace that I was going to lose the yoke forward and drop it. And I was not about to have that. I know how to tough things out. So I literally came to a stop with the weight and let it settle momentarily before starting up again at a slower pace to finish it off. Not really how I wanted things to go but his actually ended up being like half a second faster than 810lbs had been last time. So that was something. I’m not sure how heavy this will get pushed but plan is 850lbs next heavy time. I wouldn’t mind getting up to about 900lbs for this prep as I feel that would have me in a good spot in the event a show for Pro/Am requires a darn heavy yoke. I’m also very happy that nothing was hurting. There was a time in beginning of 2021 that my knees were hurting to pick up about half this weight. I was looking forward to sandbag loads. This would be the last time in this prep before switching over to something more event specific and allowing for more rest. That will be its own little puzzle to figured out what makes the most sense. So the plan here was to do EMOM loads. As I mentioned last session, I was given option of doing either another single on top of the previously accumulated (so 9 sets) with same weight or to do five with a little heavier. I wanted to do 325lbs for the EMOM. I’ve been 300lbs a lot and I was itching to give this weight a go since it would be technically a PR for me to load it to any height as I’ve not attempted a sandbag load over 313lbs. I’ve put 336lbs over my shoulder in 2022 as the heaviest sandbag I’ve ever lifted. With how 300lbs has been feeling and how 305lbs last time felt, I was thinking this was no biggie. So much so that I decided I’d just do the loads to 60” as it was 5 feet. I figured I’d do 50lbs jumps. I was thinking 25lbs jumps but the 250lbs bags were a bit buried and 40-50lbs has worked out. 225lbs was nothing and 275lbs I knew would be a pain with the pick because it is a severely underfilled bag so floppy. I also am not a fan of the canvas grip on it. That was fine. The 325lbs bag was buried under other bags. Well mine was. There are two bags but the one 325lbs is a longer bag as I think it is 350lbs bag from another company brand. And that one was really in the back behind the 350lbs bag. The 325lbs used to be the 336lbs bag and had been the 313lbs bag before that. I had added lead shot to it to get it to be over 330lbs for training for 2022 Nationals but apparently weight was taken out for a contest last year. The canvas apparently got stretched from the lead shot and now that it has 10lbs taken out of it, it is also a bit floppy. It was covered in rust dust from the pipes and a smashed centipede was stuck to it. So it apparently hasn’t gotten a lot of use. I got set for what I thought would be a tough EMOM at worst. Boy was I wrong. The pick felt like it took a lot longer to get into my lap than usual. And the bag just never felt tight to my body. I went for the extension to load and it just wasn’t high enough. I couldn’t really tell where I was as I’ve never really missed these on the load at height as it just goes over for me lol. I think in that moment I realized how I can’t really see what I’m doing on this exercise and go by feel. I reset things and decided to give it another shot as maybe I’d take this a bit more seriously. Ended up with much the same result but kept going but once I saw the yoke was tipping over I stopped. Well damn. Decided I’d try and salvage but lowering the height to what it was originally when doing these at 58”. In this brief time, I’d already soaked through the fresh shirt. I was able to get a rep finally at 58”. But it was tough. Sticking with the EMOM timing I went for the second set. I quit on it too early with the load as it would’ve gone over if I didn’t stop short. But I can only see how close it was after the fact reviewing video. Having someone be my eyes on this setup would’ve been very helpful. I was able to get one last rep here and it was ugly. I was a little too far away which normally isn’t an issue with lighter weight and more compact bags but here it was and I had to really fight to shove it over. I figured at this point to call it there as I was not going to keep at this with that bag. I at least ended it on a successful load but I didn’t want to end it there. I also didn’t want to be doing more lifting with the 300lbs bag as it was packed away and I was definitely feeling the effort I put in already. And I didn’t think it was smart to do 9x1 as I’d already done 5 attempts. I then remembered there was a small 306lbs sandbag. I figured I’d do that one for 5x1 to get in some more singles and end on a good note. Other than fatigue, I had no real issues here with this bag. But this really highlighted and issue I have when a sandbag isn’t as compact. Kegs and stones are always going to be hard when applying pressure to them, they don’t get loose. Sandbags can vary greatly. My 305lbs at home is really compact and feels easy. If I had not gotten cocky and stuck to 58” and had someone be my eyes, I’m sure I’d been successful at the original EMOM plan with 325lbs. But I was still able to get two successful lifts with it so I guess the itch has been scratched. Live and learn for next time. But it is also another reminder that I wasn’t going to be ready for Nationals this year. Last thing was sled work. I decided I’d make some changes to this. I’ve been doing the sled pushing with two prowlers. But I realized that I could actually just do this with a yoke instead and not have to worry about setting up multiple prowlers to do the 50’/50’ or have to turn around two implements. I could just do town and back with none of that. I think part of it had been that I was originally not using enough weight to use even the lightest yoke and worries that setup would mess with how I pushed things. I took a long while before I did these after the sandbag stuff talking peoples’ ears off. About strongman stuff. Ended up finally increasing the weight on these after figuring out the best way to do these on turf. These felt ok. After two runs I took the knee sleeves down as I was worried that my legs would be too pumped up and have issues keeping them moving well. I think I had them on still as knee concerns (the going around the implement stuff). Started to slow down a good bit on the fourth set and last set. But not bad. Turns out I was counting too fast this time around for the rests so it less than a minute each time. Put stuff away and closed up the gym as no one else was there and drove back. Filled up the gas tank and stretched out. Hopefully the rain takes a break soon.

September 15, 2024 - September 21, 2024 - Week 15

 September 16, 2024 – Week 15, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
26x10+5
56x5+3
86x3+2
116x2+1
146x2+1
176x2+1
206x2+1

Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
226x2
226x2
226x2
226x2
226x3+1 (2 misses)

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 20
abx5 at pin 20
lbx5 at pin 20
lbx9 at pin 15

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ Bands (+5lbs/+25lbs)
87x8
117x5
147x3
177x2
207x1
232x4

Chin Up Holds
bw+25x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+50x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: Another rough start to the week. Considering how Saturday was and the events, it was expected the “vibes” were going to be off. Kind of spend Sunday getting back on track with things in some fashion. Mowed my parent’s lawn for my off day exercise as it was getting too long again and rather not have it be unmanageable for them when they get back near the end of the week. Weight up a little bit but still talking like a pound fluctuation. But I was apparently more stressed than I thought I was. I had stuff from Friday that I needed to work on and just got yet another dumping of more work on my plate and ended up taking a mental health day at lunch. I had hoped I could just do what I did when I got the news about my niece passing and go train to distract myself but that wasn’t happening today as I got the stress eye twitch going in both eyes and cried a little out of just frustration. I figured it was best to wait until later in the day and try to calm down. Part of it was that it was later than I wanted to start anyways and didn’t want to be working out on just breakfast and some sugary oatmeal (almost back to regular brand). I was not feeling motivated today. But needed to do something I guess. Warming up stuff felt mostly decent. Still some aches in the shoulders, knees and wrists but I guess better than they had been warming up the past week. Axle to start things off. Continuing with chains still added and working up in combos of strict and push press. I figured it was a good idea to wear knee sleeves just to let the knees recover more, similar to how adding belts back in on stuff seemed to gradually make things recover better with core/lower back. Added hard belt to these as well. Only thing missing wrist wraps. The combo stuff was feeling pretty good working up. 30lbs jumps starting with empty bar this time. 176lbs didn’t feel that great because I stumbled back from the rack a bit and had to catch myself before initiating the presses. 206lbs is certainly getting closer to where I may be iffy with the reps here. Still felt solid and the push press felt easy. So then adding 20lbs to do push pressing. Same as it has been with doubles with last set allowing for a rep set. For whatever reason, the weights unracking feel heavy and slow with push press and get better as I go and remarkably so. But this time not so much. I felt like lockout was feeling a bit tougher than usual. And I seemed to have a timing issue with the unracks as the first seemed to be a little behind, the second too forward. The fourth did feel the best leading up but with how the rep started, it was essentially a paused rep to start off. I hadn’t thought that I’d be at the point already where I was hitting that wall where I couldn’t be certain I’d get 5 reps on the rep set. The last set generally feels the best for me and it was but then it went downhill quick. My left shoulder was feeling fatigue even before this set but the first reps flew up but I guess I got a little unstable on the third rep and severely misgrooved the fourth rep. I reracked the weight and rested for about 7 seconds before going again and managing another rep and failing at number five. Racked at that point. Damn it. I had hoped I would’ve gotten through this session and next hopefully at minimum before I was in danger of missing reps. It didn’t feel like the weight was heavy on my shoulders but it felt like lockout was harder and I didn’t have a base to grind out a rep. This was frustrating and essentially put any plans beyond this show on the backburner. I was contemplating calling the workout here but I figured I keep going to get more data to see if anything else was “off” today to determine what needs to be deloaded. Band assisted pull-ups after that. Was to be the same as last time with the two sets (top set of 5 reps and then reps). I was instructed to try and add another rep to the rep set. I decided because of disappointment with the push pressing that I’d adjust the pin height down one for the pull-ups (but keep same for the rep set to compare). My forearms were feeling pretty beat but not in like a fatigued sense. The sets working up didn’t really give me anything useful. Usually the first set is super easy and the second set feels kind of awful and then the working set is good. Nothing felt super easy but nothing felt terrible if that makes sense. Rep set felt about the same but man does it get tough after 5 reps on these. Then incline log pressing. I had no illusions about being able to do 5lbs more than last time for 2x5 and have it be speedy so I was looking at a top set and a down set. And that was before having the bad push press set. Stability on this felt all over the place warming up. It didn’t feel like crushing my shoulders like when it was bad with overtraining last time and I felt very explosive on these. I was finding it hard to click into a higher gear of excitation and I noticed that was the case with benching last week too. When it was time for the work set and I got that first rep, I was like “oh, I was worried for nothing” about missing the weight. Something about the fourth rep I guess I caught myself and took a moment before going for the fifth rep and that just horribly misgrooved and I couldn’t press through the sticking point. And now I have a log on my chest. Bailed on it and felt there was no reason to keep punishing my shoulders and triceps today after they’ve made their point so that was that for log. Finishing up with holds/hangs. Both are for just 20 seconds (and then extra time stuff) and if I hit that, I can increase weight next time by 5lbs for each. As luck would have it, 25lbs for chin ups and 50lbs for the active hangs so I could just use my 25’s with the grips on them for easy maneuvering. The chin up hold was definitely challenging this time around. The shoulder hang was fine and dandy. Put stuff away and cooked up dinner rather than trying to put another meal in me. Stretched out after eating. Sent information to Mr. Westerling about the workout to see if adjustments need to be made for recovery as upper body recovery seems to be the most sensitive. Hopefully I get a handle on things here.

September 18, 2024 – Week 15, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
265x2
315x2
315x2
315x2

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+85x20 seconds

Planks
bw+75x60 seconds

Side Planks
bw+10x60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I definitely needed that mental health break Monday. I was still feeling very anxious and stressed the following day but was able to focus on work. I was stressing about work as well as training. Bunch of “what ifs”. Did I overtrain everything pushing through this very stressful time? Will I ever get my overhead back to a comfortable place? Can I keep sane with work? I noticed I was still agitated as it was taking me longer to get nerves down before attempting interviews at work. I was holding a lot of stress/tension in my upper body. I ended up working through lunch rather than attempting walking as I felt that I’d be putting myself further behind (I still had Friday work to resolve) after taking half a day Monday. I think being stressed/distracted enough that I accidentally burned my finger on my Foreman Grill was what told me to chill out. I figured that I’d just try and rest and get sleep and try to get stuff that is tense to relax. Also shaved for a change of pace. I was intending to do so at some point but figured now was as good a time as any. Besides allergies acting up, I was mentally feeling better Wednesday. Still anxiety in response to negative interactions with clients to start off the morning but evening out by then end of the day. I was worried with training that like I had mentioned that this wasn’t just upper body being unable to handle the workload and stress. What if everything is out of whack? I was dreading training this week Monday after training and all through Tuesday. I was cautiously optimistic with how I was feeling today. See how things go. This was the shorter session for lower body so I could potentially get done quick and eat reasonable hour and also get to bed. Warming up was feeling fine mostly. Some aches in joints but again, lesser than it was the session before and so on. Not quite back to feeling 100% in that department. But I’m also not feeling the aches and such as severe in spots that were flaring up last week or so like my right side with the knee, hip and glute. It was feeling kind of humid so I got the little oscillating fan going for air flow in the garage (it had rained most of the day). Front squats with chains for the start of the session. Another week of 3x2 with 5-10lbs more than what I did last time and the back up plan of lighter for 2x5. Back off would only be if I was feeling terrible and needing to shut things down because I’m cooked. Last time, unracking the weight wasn’t feeling bad but I was having issues with the right knee and getting my stance right and balanced. Right knee was aching a bit but the stance issue wasn’t happening this time around. And I kind of knew this knee ache would lessen as I warmed up and put up more and more weight. I think my worry was that my upper body would be cooked and I’d be having issues with supporting the weight and bracing well. Which thankfully wasn’t an issue so I felt comfortable sticking to the heavier plan. 40-50lbs jumps here. The plan had been done for more of a 5lbs jump really same as the last time. I wanted to do 3 plates added. I kind of did 2 40lbs jumps and then a 50lbs jump to the top weight. Last time my last double working up had felt rough and I think I didn’t want to mess with that at the moment and just try to gauge things from how I feel with the same weight this time. It went well so I felt I could go with the plan. That’s not to say I wasn’t nervous here. But it was good indicator that I could get nervous for the weight and get myself to feel hyped up. I was not able to really get hyped up for the push pressing (kind of but it didn’t seem to be effective) or benching (log and regular) so I had been worried I was burnt out and fatigued there. So I guess not. Not that fear of failure should be the thing every time here. These felt better than last time did. With how the first one moved, I was tempted to add like 5lbs a set here but thought better of it and figured I’d just stick to the thing that has been working. But this was a big relief for me as I was stressing that I’d be underperforming on everything and start spiraling. I also need to keep in check that I don’t just go to the other end of the spectrum as well here. Slight break before moving on to the core work stuff. As per usual, warming up for back extension holds with reps. 20 reps again. Felt fine and good. 20 seconds being the max time but leaving some seconds on the clock. Sticking to 25lbs on the neck harness but continuing with adding 5lbs to weight I’m holding. I’ve noticed this time and last that the weight total is getting to be feeling substantial. Like I need to really be focused to initiate the lift. Not like I can just yank this up willy nilly for the hold. This is definitely getting challenging but I know there is more there. Plank time. I was advised I could still go up or stay where I was. Considering how rough of a time I had with getting the darn backpack on last time, I stuck to the same weight. I had not issues this time getting the thing on but there was still some balance issues with getting things settled at this weight. I felt that I was able to handle the braced breathing better. Then side planks. 10lbs again here. Hopefully this would feel better. Mixed bag. I was better able to handle the balance with the added weight. Right side my shoulder was achy supporting but braced breathing seemed to be better. No issues with left shoulder supporting but braced breathing that side wasn’t as good. I had started cooking dinner after the back extension stuff so put stuff away and finished up dinner prep. Stretched after eating.

September 21, 2024 – Week 15, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk (turf)
80x50’
130x50’
180x50’
230x50’
280x50’
335x50’ in 15.54 seconds

Sandbag Carries
turns at 20’
225x40’ (load style)
225x40’ (bear hug)
turns at 50’, on turf
300x253’1” (load style)
300x191’2” (bear hug)

Sled Drags
135x50’
225x50’
(60 seconds rest)
285x100’
285x100’
285x100’
285x100’
285x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: Week started off very stressful but I think I started to calm down by the end of it. Still had a lot of anxiety but I feel I was able to channel it in a way that it wasn’t paralyzing to me. Had to do some allergy meds the second half of the week. Part of relief I think was that my parents were back home. They had been taking a trip that was planned and then with the passing of my niece, it ended up being a longer stay away. I also think I’ve figured out what may need to change with overhead/upper body training so that also has provided me some relief. If I can get that nut cracked, it would provide me with so much relief and not constantly second guessing myself. I’m fairly certain that my only focus will be this upcoming show and nothing after. Like 98% sure of that decision. I was nervous about training but also wanted to get up early to get out to train. But it took bit longer than I had anticipated to get ready to sleep so I decided I’d go off my work wake up time and see how I felt. I ended up needing to hit snooze I think at least twice. My parents had brought back some coffee samples with them and I foolishly used that this morning. It was a bit stronger than I’m used to so I’ll need to be more careful with when and where I use it haha. I’ve also stopped taking the one turmeric blend I’ve been taking daily for almost 5yrs now to help with inflammation and disc health. It had been a miracle cure for my nerve and back pain when I took it the first time (this was when I had pain relapse near end of September 2019). Of the supplements I take beyond the anti-depressant, it is likely the biggest culprit for my elevated liver levels from reading some more literature. It is also pricy so seeing how things are without it. So far so good. I wasn’t expecting a lot with people being there for training with some people competing recently and other’s competing. My one friend was in first at Nationals going into Day 2. It is really shocking how much worse traffic is going an hour later at least through the places that get congested. There were people there talking strongman and I joined in which I think helped me calm down a bit before I started getting ready to train. Warming up I was ok. I’d say the best the knees have felt since they started acting up on me two weeks ago. Right shoulder still a bit achy. First thing for the day was farmer’s walk. Out into the wind tunnel as the other strip was being used. Again, plan was to do a top set of 50’ with 50lbs jumps working. This had been altered slightly. Initially, this was to be contest weight for when the show was 315lbs still. The session before was to be 310lbs and then this one contest but I had done contest a session early because of how close it was. But now it was less and I’d already done two sessions over that weight and got four months to go. So I was advised I could go heavier as long as it wasn’t an absolute max. So given the go ahead to do 335-350lbs. Now I knew that range would actually be close to my max because of how the pick up for these is the hardest thing for me. I mean, this is a good bit more than my raw deadlift is. My thinking here was to do a little more warming up and aim for 330lbs but give myself a little leeway to “accidentally” misload the last set to be a little heavier. It was truly an accident with the yoke last week. No ifs ands or buts here with the knee sleeves. I was nervous with things as my hamstrings and gastrocs had felt tight after the Wednesday session and I made sure to get my walks and soft tissue work in. Being mindful of the pick up and how my knees were feeling as I was trying to move fast. I think I noticed this week that there was unevenness in the turf at the one end I decided to pick up from. I’m glad that it felt like I could get my gait to be longer strides at times on the lighter weights as that has been important for me on this event as I can’t seem to get that same degree of hip mobility with yoke. I had to keep anxiety under control since the strong coffee was definitely having things feel a little high strung. Like my breathing as I was feeling lightheaded on some working up runs holding my breath at points. Eventually I got to the top set. I decided to go with 335lbs. With these particular farmer’s, anything over what I did last time was going to be a PR. 330lbs would be the most I’ve done on farmer’s walk handles since 2019 for a run from about this height (and both times in competition since). 335lbs is the most I’ve done since 2016 in training after the back injury and that was 2017 prepping for my first show back. I actually only got 47’ as my grip gave out on me. So I figured I’d go this weight to get that 3’ I missed back then. I was incredibly nervous going for this. Shaking, having trouble getting words out and keeping my breath under control. Also the added pressure with people watching now as I had asked for assistance with commands and timing so pretty much everyone in the gym stopped to watch. That pick was slow. I could feel my hamstrings straining big time. I was worried something was going to go in them after that hamstring scare beginning of the year. But kept pulling and stood up and started walking. I felt I was going at a good pace but I could tell my grip was slipping and I had to slow down to keep from losing it. The effort and strain of picking up the implements takes a lot out of me and it has been a while where I’ve felt that grip was slipping. But I finished and there was relief. This was darn near close to my max here at this point between how hard the pick was and having to slow down to keep stable and not jostle the implements out of my hands. I put stuff away and got things setup for sandbag carries. Same as last time. 300lbs for the working sets of 2 max distance carries with different hold styles and try to beat my distances from last time. Again, this was giving me anxiety worrying about failing. I think my consolation I was telling myself was that this max distance stuff is likely not going to continue with prep as I’m good at the long distance carry stuff but need to be faster with moving. The lanes were in use and a bit crowded. I was also nervous here beyond the “normal” fear of failing to beat what I did last time on this embrace the suck event because my hamstrings were really feeling that pick from the farmer’s. I was concerned that I’d strain something picking up the sandbags today. So I figured I’d just do the bare minimum to warm up and got what was convenient for warming up as far as sandbags. 225lbs and 250lbs wasn’t going to be much difference. Just needed to see if the pick up caused any strain and if walking with a load out front was manageable. It was so I guess good to go. It took a bit of time for myself to calm down enough for the first run with 300lbs. I had kept the knee sleeves on this time around just to keep the knees happy. There were no issues with the pick up and I was off. And no jelly legs. I was feeling good and I was really surprised that I was feeling good at 200’. I was very close to 250’ before I kind of had to start shuffling. But I was so damn close that I kept going. And then I made it a point to turn around to get just a little distance. I make it a point to always make a turn when it is for max distance. So quite pleased with over 250’ here. Learning from last time, I needed to take a longer rest before doing the second set with the bear hug style. I wasn’t looking forward to it considering how I had a really bad performance on this last time. I say this but it would’ve still been a 5th place at the contest in March with this event. Plan was to still beat 216’ but I also told myself it was ok to do my best on the day. I already did a big PR for the style I feel comfortable with doing. Took longer than I figured I needed to make sure I was actually ready. Pick was ok and I didn’t get the jelly legs on that first length. So I figured I was golden and would get over 200’ again. Nope, just hit with hard hamstring fatigue about halfway down the length to finish out 200’. So again not the best. However, it was almost 20’ more than last time so I’ll take that win over last time. Didn’t need too much time putting stuff away before getting ready for sled drag. It had rained last time and I had to modify things so this was back to how it normally is. I figured I’d go with 285lbs on this. No knee sleeves as I figured I’d have issues with blood flow restriction as my legs can get pretty pumped from these at times. It was a good call as knees felt good and my legs did in fact get pumped up by the end. As far as how this felt, it was like a mixture of the previous two sessions before the last one (where I did it on turf and a lot less weight). I felt I could keep mostly a decent pace but there were times fatigue was feeling high. But never seemed to hit that 5th set wall. Put stuff away and drank a shake before getting home to stretch and decompress. Need to relax and do some thinking for what comes next.

September 8, 2024 - September 14, 2024 - Week 14

 September 9, 2024 – Week 14, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ Bands (+14lbs/+22llbs)
No Bands
87x5
Add Bands
90x3
120x2
150x2
175x2
200x2
200x2
200x2
200x2
200x5

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
95x5
145x5
195x5
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
245x5
245x5

Bench Presses w/ Chains (+22lbs)
No Chains
45x15
Add Chains
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x2
255x2
280x5
250x5

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: The hits keep coming. Two weeks after my newborn niece passing I’m finding out more bad news. I was called up Sunday evening by my good friend and was informed that another good friend had apparently passed away Saturday morning. A coworker and friend for many years that I sent dumb memes and videos to daily. It’s just a lot. Just a bunch of frustrations mixed together. I was feeling like I was getting a handle on the stress as I indicated Saturday evening. But a fresh batch on the way. Weight down about 2lbs from last week so getting closer to 275lbs weight. Right knee is still achy but loads better than how it was feeling at times after training on Saturday. I had mowed my lawn Sunday for my exercising as well as putting together a yoke I bought. But I was stressed going into training with a lot on my mind. Warming up I guess was fine. Right knee still achy and hopefully improves as this session shouldn’t be taxing on knee joint. Other stuff felt fine. Log strict press against bands. Same as last time with it being 4x2 with up to 5 for a fifth set. 5lbs increase from last time. I was feeling pretty good here besides the knees being stiff. Weight was feeling good and so was form (mostly). Plan was to do hard belt this time (no wrist wraps). I wasn’t too sure with the wrists as I had worked them a good bit putting together the yoke with having to use two wrenches to get that stuff tightened up. Ideally I wouldn’t have done it all at once or before an upper body session but needed to be done and I wasn’t going to take time during the week after finding out my friend had passed away. I did get a little off balanced on the last set before the working weight but it was just from getting a little too cocky with how it had moved. Would be moment of truth with hard belt as far as if breathing was on point. Racking the log for the very first rep I felt just about every joint in my shoulder girdle and rib cage crack. Like cracking my knuckles or neck. It was a little startling but went up fine and no issues. I must be holding a lot of tension/stress despite my best efforts. When I got the groove right, it was feeling really strong but I was noticing that I was having a harder time with subsequent reps vs say the first rep. Last set reps did feel better but it was definitely getting tougher to get the five reps here. I am curious if at some point these will be like singles done EMOM style or something and being like 80% of my push press on log. That would be kind of neat to do at some point if things continue to progress. From there, it was into the garage for chest supported barbell rows with pauses. Continue to push the weight up by 5lbs with 2x5. I was advised like benching that if I felt the first set took too much out of me, I was to lower to 30lbs less or so from the top set weight. Unlike the benching stuff, rows always seem to be good to progress and I’m definitely not as close to my limit as those. Rowing muscles generally don’t seem to be as temperamental as my pressing muscles are with recovery. They can feel beat to hell and hit PRs every time. So 50lbs jumps with sets of 5 reps doing slight pauses working up. Straps for top set. I was expecting the weights to feel heavy in my hands because of all the wrench work Sunday afternoon and evening but no issues. I knew from the first set I was doing the same weight for the second set. Both felt good. Then benching with chains. Same as last week but adding 5lbs. It was already strongly hinted at here that I was going to be only doing one set at the heavier weight and drop down. Mr. Westerling ahd suggested that I drop it to this rather than 2x5 with how last time looked. And seeing as how I did on my own volition with the incline log stuff last week, I was prepared for that this time. I was having a hard time feeling my lats this session. I knew that I was bracing them but I feeling more so my lower body bracing. I think I forget how much lower body stress is needed with benching as my knee was aching a bit here. Trying to be optimistic working up in weight but the right shoulder was feeling achy on me. These weren’t feeling 100% today. I set things up for the top set so that it would be easy to just take off the weight for the suggested second set to stay “speedy” because I had a feeling. That feeling was justified with how that first rep felt and went. Even if Mr. Westerling hadn’t suggested I do this or if I had kept things 2x5 with incline log last week, I’d have dropped this down for a lighter second set. This was feeling more like how my benching was feeling before I brought my grip in a little with groove and tightness and such. Right shoulder was still feeling off but at least the lighter set was moving fast. So achy right shoulder and achy right knee. Hope that getting some quality sleep helps here as I plan on getting some vaccinations after work tomorrow (since I’m going to have to be on planes in the next 4 months). Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. I With how I was feeling, I just stuck to the average band I had been using the past two sessions with aim to do 2x20 reps here. Felt ok. I kind of just wanted to be done with training so I could eat and relax at this point. Cooked up dinner and put stuff away before eating and then stretching out.

September 11, 2024 – Week 14, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
495x2
545x5

Step Ups (18”)
bwx20 L
bwx20 R
bw+20’sx12 L
bw+20’sx12 R

Single Leg Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds L
bwx60 seconds R

Crunches
bw+50x25

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x25

Stretching
 
Comments: Mentally and physically I was not feeling good. Still reeling from the double whammy of niece and friend passing and trying my best to manage stress as that is a killer. And I know I’m under stress with eye twitches happening. But I’d rather stay focused and busy and feel like I’m doing something that is helping people then just being alone with my thoughts. I ended up getting some vaccinations Tuesday after work so that pretty much meant my shoulders were going to be not great for a little while. Tylenol to help with not waking up from discomfort and I was leery about doing that because of masking joint aches and such for monitoring recovery but I felt the uninterrupted sleep to combat the stress was more important. My chest needed a lot of soft tissue work that evening. I was definitely feeling a little worn down mentally as Wednesday went on. Right knee thing seemed to have moved to inner thigh stuff by the time I was ready to train. I also got notified that most of the weights for the events at the competition were lowered a good bit so that was kind of annoying. It certainly wasn’t helpful with motivation with already being over contest weight for a month with four more months to go. Warming up I was keeping eye on things to hopefully see if moving around in some fashion would get some aches to stop. Right knee still achy but less so than it was Monday warming up so I guess that is something. Shoulders garbage with injections in both so I knew no sense in gauging how things felt based off that. Wagon wheel pulls to start things off. Same as last time with soft touch and go reps working up to a top set of 5 reps. The last week of 5’s (unless the change in weights affects planning) on these. The warming up was adjusted slightly here with plate jumps and then the set of 5 reps being ideally 10-20lbs more than last time. I was hoping that my right side would not give me issues here. The discomfort part of things was minimal for this movement. The inner thigh discomfort decided to move to my outer glute on that side instead where the hip socket was. Oh well. Was stressed for this session with how I was feeling today and how I had felt after Saturday with the right knee acting up. My hope here was to do 545lbs for 5 reps as I did this weight before in 2019 for 4 reps on a deadlift bar with wagon wheels as the last heavy session before a contest that I ended up pulling out of the night before due to severe back pain. I kind of wanted to tick off more things to constantly combat the imposter syndrome. But that was feeling like a tall order today with how things were feeling. 405lbs felt terrible that I was worried that 495lbs would actually feel like a max lift for a double today. It thankfully did not. Hard belt really makes a difference for me on this movement it would seem as far as feeling good going up in weight. 495lbs didn’t necessarily have me feel like the top set was going to be a great one but I stuck to my plan with 545lbs. I needed it today. I ended up chalking up the straps and my hands as I knew that I may need to take my time and get a big breath to rebrace on reps like I had been doing with the wide jack pulls in the previous training cycle. The chalk would make things stay secure better. I got myself ready and made sure I didn’t stay down too long because of trying to synch up with the song playing. This felt like it should compared to the last two training sessions on this. I could’ve done more. Perhaps not as big an urgency to add pounds to the bar since I’m technically doing +90% of contest on stiff bar as it stands now. I wasn’t really looking forward to the rest of the workout with the knee stuff. From there, it was outside for step ups. Starting things off with bodyweight. Only 20 reps this time around. Knee sleeves were a must on these today. I was advised I could cut the reps on these in half to help with recovery. It’s one of those were doing one rep vs a bunch feels about the same and if anything, the knee tends to feel better doing longer term things than short. I knew I could do the bodyweight stuff no problem. Then adding weight with 20lbs dumbbells. Plan being to add reps it seems at this point with this weight. So 12 reps here. The herky jerky motions were noticed in my achy, sore shoulders. Added weight is certainly tougher with this box height and it is harder to adjust positions on things like when unencumbered. Single leg wall sits for more knee and quad stuff. This would also be a trying endeavor for the knees. Told to just stick to 60 seconds going forward and not more time. But also advised I could cut the time in half due to knee recovery. Thing is that this is even more so where a little feels worse than a lot. Wore knee sleeves on these as well. This was unpleasant for the first 10-15 seconds of the holds and I was worried that I’d not be able to hold the position much beyond that. And this was with my knee that I didn’t thing was acting up. But apparently both knees are feeling the added weights and trying to go faster with said weights. But I toughed it out here and got a minute again. Rested double the time as discovered last time that that seemed to be for the best with longer holds like this. Same thing as the left side where very unpleasant but then tolerable. And while this seemed to give my knees a thrashing, they “felt” better afterwords. Like not feeling mechanically impinged or irritated but still sore if that makes sense. It could also be that all the competing aches and pains of the day (shoulders, right glute) were fighting for supremacy and I can only register so much at a time and in a spot. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. I decided to try something here. The 45lbs for 35 reps was ok but not terribly challenging. I was sticking with it due to the increased workload of other stuff and this seemed to be the most I could really make behind the head be with plates since the 45lbs plates have handles on them to hold. So I can grip lower and have the leverage worse for me so more weight felt on the core. I have a pair of 25’s like this so I wondered if it would work stacking those and gripping them. This actually worked quite well and felt a ton tougher than the 45lbs plate so I ended up stopping at 25 reps. So I guess I got something I can work with here. I Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. Again, this was a challenging time with them. These didn’t feel as tough as starting out last time (no hands hurting) but I could tell fatigue was hitting me hard as I got closer to 25 reps. I really didn’t want to have the reps decrease here so I did my best to secure 25 reps and call it there. I had taken a bit of rest putting stuff away between the crunches and these to see if that helped at all and not really. Finished putting stuff away and ate and then stretched out. Hopefully I will feel better with some more rest.

September 14, 2024 – Week 14, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke
300x50’
400x50’
500x50’
600x50’
700x50’
810x50’ in 19.96 seconds

Sandbag Loads (59“)
175x1
225x1
265x1
EMOM
305x1
305x1
305x1
305x1
305x1
305x1
305x1
305x1

Sled Pushes
55x100’
(60 seconds rest)
325x100’
325x100’
325x100’
325x100’
325x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: The past two weeks have been a bit of uncharted territory for me. Death has thankfully not been a frequent visitor for me but I guess that will be more and more as I get older. Short succession of a family member and now a close friend. Work is stressful but not working and doing nothing just leaves me empty. So keeping busy seems to be the choice I’ve made as at least with work I’m potentially helping those in need. Despite the stress to the knees from Wednesday session, it feels like that work was good in I guess getting the knees to be tracking right. There is a soreness and achiness still but it doesn’t feel like mobility is impinged in the right knee like I was worried it was going to. Just have to adapt to the stress of the situation and the increasing poundage of training. I already knew before even all the events of the past two weeks this workout was going to have to be adjusted. The gym was closed for a powerlifting meet so I was going to have to train either at home or partially at the local gym. I had decided I’d rather buy a new yoke for home rather than deal with going to the other gym after the last time I tried to do things where I did stuff at home and then was going to go to the gym and I had a been in a funk. If I’m going to the gym, it all needs to be the gym. Then with events coming as they did, I wanted to make Saturday free if I could so that I’d do this workout at home Friday right after work. That felt like it would work. But then more negative things to start off the week so coupled with the unexpected stress and how that was effecting me, I knew that I’d not be able to train after work Friday in a safe/healthy manner. So plan would be to get up early Saturday to get training in at home before the service. I was running into a bit of block there as while I did go to sleep earlier, I was having some issues falling asleep quickly. I ended up sleeping in 30 minutes more than I wanted to. I think I was nervous about training as well as what the rest of the day would bring. Considering how my body was feeling after Wednesday workout, I was feeling pretty good in comparison. Knees were a bit achy and I had twitchy muscles in my lats. But I guess the knees weren’t feeling as bad as they were comparing how warm ups have felt on the knees this week. Feeling a lot of body tension in the upper body from holding in stress I guess but not as stiff as Wednesday warming up. It was deceptively hot today and I think I was slightly agitated as I had a time limit and the thing I needed to go to wasn’t a happy good time thing. It has been a long while since I’ve had to do a legit event training session at home. It does require a bit more setup than say going to a gym. I didn’t want to have to deal with transporting a lot of weights and putting them away going to the other gym. Yoke to start. Initially the plan was to work up to contest weight in 100lbs jumps doing 50’ runs. So 770lbs was the goal. However, the weights for most of the events were decreased and now yoke was going to only be 700lbs. A bit miffed on that as I was hoping to keep building yoke to get that reserve strength back up so that it isn’t taking so much out of me. I’ve been doing mid 700’s for a while now and it is a big jump up to say being ready for 1000lbs yoke in a few months notice. With the decrease in the weights, I am entertaining another drug free contest closer after the one in January in February that is a little heavier on stuff. I understand the drops to but I’m a year away from masters and I feel the weights are light, especially when considering the world’s level for the organization is closer to what the original weights were. Train for the shows but get stronger and better. Suffice it to say, those talks lead to some changes with the yoke. I was advised to stay the course of what was planned or if feeling good to actually go up 20lbs from what was proposed. So 790lbs. That would be the most weight I’ve done in training since 2020 (did 770lbs once). But also 10lbs shy of 800lbs, and I’ve not done that weight or more since 2018. It would actually be easier plate math wise for that with the new yoke so I was going to do 800lbs. It was an itch that needed to be scratched at this time. I know I can do but sometimes you have to prove yourself to yourself. I had spent last weekend putting the yoke together and I had assumed I had it ready to just put crossbar on it and be ready (storage easier that way and this will likely only be used a few times a year) but there was still some plastic parts that were keeping the things from sliding together. Maybe they are to be part of it but stuff wasn’t budging and I was short on time so took pliers to those parts to remove them. Even with the locking pins, this may be one of the shakiest yokes I’ve ever used. I also had to adjust things a bit as the street outside has a decent gradient with uphill and downhill that I need to set pick height a little lower to make sure I don’t hit the street. I felt nonchalant with working up. 300lbs felt tougher than I’d like but that was also getting used to the yoke. I wasn’t setting any land speed records today. I was feeling better with the next two jumps. 600lbs surprisingly felt really good and I had high hopes for 800lbs after that. 700lbs decided to slap that down for me. That was about how I had honestly wanted 800lbs to feel and I had to add 100lbs more. But I already had committed to this plan. Pick was good on this and I started off decent but then the wobble really started to get to me and shake me off balance. I ended up really having to slow down to keep from being shaken of balance and losing the yoke. I can still do it and having years of experience and knowing how to tough out a tough yoke run is a skill burned into me from my own stubbornness. But under 20 seconds and knee feeling no worse for wear here. Apparently I accidentally added 10lbs to what I was supposed to so it was over 800lbs. Oops. Couldn’t really take my time with rest here so used handtruck to put away weights to get on to sandbag loads. At the start of this block, I’ve been given options to either do 1 more set same weight from last time with 300lbs bag or to use a little bit more weight than last time and go back to 5 sets. This week I didn’t have the 300lbs bag as I had what was available at home. So 305lbs was closest. It is a much firmer bag so it feels easier compared to the looser ones of same size. So my plan was to just treat it like the 300lbs and do the more EMOM sets and treat hopefully next time when I got more bags to use a truly heavier bag for the EMOM. I couldn’t get the height to be 58” like I can at the gym with this yoke and I didn’t want to spend time I didn’t have trying to get it right with what I was working with so I just used 59” so that is was close enough but not lower. I wasn’t planning to do as many warming up singles as I did but with how I stack the bags at home, it made sense to just lift all of them one at a time as it would get them out of the way and warm up. Just kept the same sweaty drenched shirt and didn’t bother with any chalk added. This actually felt fine. I could tell the sweaty shirt was having it harder for me to keep the bag close to my body in the second half but not so much it made thing difficult. This was still comfortable. I did rush things a little on the fifth one and got off balance and had to catch myself before I could initiate the load. No real time to stop here as had sled work. 5 sets of 100’ with minute rest. Unlike the gym, I know that I got 100’ to work with here and not having the sled friction get caught. But there is also the uphill/downhill thing. Ideally, I would’ve moved my stuff to be in front of my parent’s house with the more level street but I didn’t have the time to move stuff there as it was. Got the course setup and put on weights that I know I’ve done before with this here. This wasn’t too bad. I probably needed a little more weight on these. Downhill was fine, definitely felt my glutes and hamstrings working harder the uphill portion. Felt fatigue but not super gassed. It’s a big effort but I can go much faster vs on turf as that stuff slows me down a lot so rest feels since its more like 2x work vs 3x work rest periods. Put away the weights and changed to attend the virtual service with my sisters. It was a necessary release and it felt good to share with my sisters that moment. Ate comfort food before going separate ways. Returned home to stretch and decompress.

September 1, 2024 - September 7, 2024 - Week 13

 September 2, 2024 – Week 13, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Strict Presses + Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
26x10+5
46x5+3
76x3+2
106x2+1
136x2+1
166x2+1
196x2+1

Push Presses w/ Chains (+28lbs)
216x2
216x2
216x2
216x2
216x5

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 19
abx5 at pin 19
lbx5 at pin 19
lbx8 at pin 15

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ Bands (+5lbs/+25lbs)
87x8
117x5
147x3
177x2
202x1
227x5
202x5

Chin Up Holds
bw+20x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+45x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: Conflicted about things but it is what it is. But it doesn’t sound like I’m flying anywhere anytime soon. Maybe later this year. Nothing set in stone at this point but it does seem like the weekend when some kind of service is happening is one that the gym was going to be closed anyways. I actually ended up buying another yoke that is to competition specs so that I could have more freedom/control with things when I have to train at home or not be able to use the strongman gym. Seems fortuitous in this instance. Sleep schedule off this weekend. I stayed up late Saturday and slept in Sunday. Mowed my parent’s lawn rather than walk for my off day exercise. Sometimes the lawn mowing helps with the recovery aspects in the lower body since there is some light resistance with the mower. Had a better time with the electric mower but still feel like the energy source stinks if I got to use two fuel cells to mow a single large lawn. Ended up eating dinner (tried some Asian fusion take out, just okay) with my younger sister as kind of a birthday celebration on top of the one like three weeks ago. Ended up staying up late again because I was going to have trouble falling asleep and I knew I was off work. Managed to not sleep in as late as I did Sunday for Monday. I was a little nervous with training to start as I knew that my knees had taken a beating this previous week. I’d just have to see if things were ok or if I was going to need to wear the knee sleeves. I’d kind of like to push that out a little longer if possible for everything but use for what I feel it will help with. Thankfully most of warming up felt good. I was a bit creaky/achy at the very start but felt better as things progressed. Axle to start things off. Continuing with where the last 4 week block left off. Chains still added and working up in combos of strict and push press. Adjusted a little here in that starting lighter so getting to the 2+1 sets at lighter weight but doing more of them. The axle stuff is a bit more aggressive in progression than the log strict stuff with bands in that 10lbs jumps. But it should be doable still at this point as the “strict” portion is lower reps and just a top set here. Added more support in the form of the soft belts. Plan is to use hard belt next time. Since I was training a little earlier in the day, I had the sunglass lens on as the sun was coming in and out of the clouds. Felt fine with the top set and then adding 20lbs to do push pressing. That also continues to be the same with the doubles and rep set up to 5 reps. I knew from last time that the weight felt heavy coming into the first set so I was expectant of that. I will say that I felt like I was more consistent with the unrack and walking out the weight this time around. Third set I got my left foot caught on the mat stepping back so I had to wait a moment for things to settle. I was not too sure with how the last set would go. I was feeling some fatigue in the shoulders and I was really hoping that I didn’t have the issue like last time where it got off balance and had the last two reps be a bit tougher than I’d have liked. I feel it is important that this keep progressing in this way as I really want to get back to overhead pressing 300lbs or more in competition. Things seemed to have come together for me on the rep set as it felt the best and I didn’t feel like I had any issues. I think I was also more mindful of the chains and didn’t seem as wild. Band assisted pull-ups after that. A little bit of change here. I was advised to keep the top set the same tension as it was the previous time as well as keep the setup the same for the second set. But I was to do 1-3 more reps on that second set compared to before. Which shouldn’t be a problem. My forearms were definitely feeling the sandbag work from Saturday. Felt them on the very first warming up set and thankfully not too bad the next one. I was debating adding liquid chalk for working sets but decided against it and save that for the hangs/holds stuff. Set of 5 reps was fine. The increased assistance set it was easy for those first 5 reps but it was kind of dramatic the fatigue factor after that. I’ve been pulling these explosively and for just 5 reps so not unexpected that this would be present. 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. Mr. Westerling had commented that my bench press last week that the second set was looking like I should drop down this next time so I was already expecting that I might have to do this for this one depending on how things feel. Initially warming up I was feeling fine and dandy and perhaps I could do the weight for 2x5. But have to remind myself it isn’t so much that I can’t do it but that I can’t do it and make it easy enough so as recovery happens and I continue to make the small progressions each time. The last single I could tell that I may need to do a decrease in weight for the second set to have stuff stay somewhat speedy so I made sure that I had a change of weights on hand. Started out fine but I could tell that I needed to lower for the second set. Took 25lbs off for the second set and that did move better. After putting the elaborate setups away, it was time for the holds/hangs. Both are for just 20 seconds (and then extra time stuff) and if I hit that, I can increase weight next time by 5lbs for each. Only 20 seconds isn’t terribly exhausting so I figured that I’d try and get through these in decent time. Chin up holds was probably going to be the harder one. Liquid chalk for these just to make sure. 20 seconds had felt close last time. I felt like I had a bit more control this time around with my body. Lowering slow to end it does feel good. Then active shoulder hangs to wrap things up. 45lbs here. I wasn’t sure if the setup would have the weights clearing things. I decided I’d keep my bent legs under me rather than behind when I relaxed my shoulders so as to keep my spine stacked and not have it experience traction when I released. I was kind of surprised how comfortable this felt compared to last time. Put stuff away and ate all the meals I eat during the work day hours (besides breakfast) and then after relaxing a bit I did stretch.

September 4, 2024 – Week 13, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
265x2
305x2
305x2
305x2

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+80x22 seconds

Planks
bw+75x60 seconds

Side Planks
bw+10x60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Well another year older. Another and I can compete as a masters if I so choose. Still processing things, which has gotten to the body having nervous ticks related to stress. Trying my best to get quality sleep to help with that. I’m not entirely sure what the plan is for things this month (sounds like next week) but due to the timing that I’ll be going out to see family with everyone beginning of November. Upper back kind of spazzed on me in the evening after eating dinner and stretching so that was annoying. Not helping with the eye twitch thing. I was worried that it would make front squats uncomfortable for Wednesday training when it happened as well as impact sleep. I don’t think it did but hard to say as I got absolutely slammed at work Tuesday. Like still have stuff to do for that day at the end of the day today. So that also kind of had me going a little slow off the block to start training after work was done. Also because I forgot to turn on the crockpot earlier in the day than I had planned so dinner might take a little longer to be ready. This was the shorter session for lower body anyways so I could afford to take a little bit of time getting thing going. Warming up was feeling fine mostly. Knees still feeling the collective load of things. Like not really saying the push pressing causing it but certainly not helping with recovery. Honestly, I feel like the step ups and wall sits cause more knee stress than anything else. But weights are getting heavier on everything as well. I was seriously considering going lighter on front squats if things were still feeling not so great as I got warmed up. I mean, I was saying that but it kind of has to be pretty blatant for me to call it early on these because I feel like pushing these is beneficial for me to get my lower body better with quad work and bracing and also getting used to weights on my shoulders for the overhead stuff. As mentioned, front squats with chains for the start of the session. With the new block, plan was 3x2 with 5-10lbs more than what I did last time and the back up plan of lighter for 2x5. Back off weight clarified as 185-225lbs so good to know. I think because this was a new adjustment with the reps that I wanted to get this session done as planned at least. I had felt decent with the working weights last time. My hope was also to do 10lbs since this was a reduction in the reps from triples to doubles. Unracking the weight wasn’t feeling bad today but my right knee was feeling achy and sometimes my stance didn’t feel comfortable to get the best drive out of it. It is hard to gauge the day with lighter weights on squats as sometimes adding belts seems to make the knee aches go away. I was looking at 10lbs increase so I adjusted the numbers a bit as written beyond the usual 40-50lbs jumps as that was setup for 5lbs increase. I think I want to be setting up for 3 plates added the next time as well. That last double was not a confidence booster as I didn’t feel comfortable with the stance I had walking it out and it felt slow and off balanced the first rep. I had to take a moment at the top to get another breath and brace before doing the second rep. I was going to have to take the working weight doubles seriously to get through this. These felt a ton harder than the triples from last time but I will say that they felt better as I did them. So I guess there is that. It was good to be done with that stuff and just worry about core bracing work that wasn’t as heavy/taxing. This would be about my only chance to get a drink break before flexing my stomach hard for time. As per usual, warming up for back extension holds with reps. 20 reps again which seems to be where staying for now with this. These felt good and easy this time. No burning fatigue in the anywhere this time. Which hopefully boded well for the hold. 20 seconds being the max time but leaving some seconds on the clock. Sticking to 25lbs on the neck harness but continuing with adding 5lbs to weight I’m holding. I think at this point this is the most weight combined I’ve done on this bench before with bodyweight. Not as to say a PR for my body holding up but more a PR for this rinky dink hyper bench I got for like $80. This was going to be an easier session for loading since it was back to a weight I could do with the bumper plates and no loose change. I knew what to expect on this with the strain. Felt ok but could tell that lower back did want to stop due to fatigue in holding the position. I accidentally miscounted at some point and it ended up being 22 seconds for the hold. Not going to nix those extra seconds here as I did them. I know I can do more here. The same could be said for the other holds and hangs I’ve been doing (maybe not so strongly the single leg wall sits but told to stop a minute going forward haha). Plank time. I was advised I could still go up or stay where I was. I decided against my better judgement to add 5lbs more to it. This was a chore to get on to my back with the backpack. I think I’m not going to try to go any heavier here because of how much of a struggle getting the back on was. I also don’t think I’ve had the much weight in the backpack for any exercise that I’ve done that is a weighted calisthenic. The added weight was noticeable though with the actual plank itself so not a total waste of effort. Then side planks. Got to add weight to these (yeah). Just 10lbs. But honestly that was enough because adding weight did change the balance point on these a good bit so the additional weight was noticed immediately in increasing the difficult of the brace and braced breathing. So it would seem having some kind of weight on these would be invaluable going forward because of the additional effort to remain stable/rigid. Side planks do seem to have ups and downs as far as quality of the brace and more so than the standard planks. So I’ll have to see how next time goes with the same weight. Put stuff away and stretched before getting dinner ready.

September 7, 2024 – Week 13, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk (turf)
115x50’
165x50’
215x50’
265x50’
315x50’ in 12.00 seconds

Sandbag Carries
turns at 25’
250x50’ (load style)
250x50’ (bear hug)
turns at 50’, on turf
300x235’2” (load style) PR+16’9”
300x171’2” (bear hug)

Sled Drags (turf, 50 seconds rest)
180x93’
180x93’
180x93’
180x93’
180x93’
180x93’

Stretching
 
Comments: This week (even though a short work week) kicked my ass. I guess it was a culmination of stresses (work and life) that got topped off with bad allergies on Friday. I was playing catch up all this week with how slammed I got with work on Tuesday that I still have stuff from Tuesday to get resolved next week. And this was with having a break from getting “new work” Thursday per schedule. I ended up taking allergy meds Friday and then Dayquil to help me sleep. I didn’t have to worry about getting out early to train as my one friend trained Friday to have access to conan’s wheel (Nationals) before it was packed up for the contest today offsite. So even people not competing were likely to be there helping out and there were other people competing in Maryland so it was likely going to be a “ghost town” today as far as strongman stuff. I ended up sleeping in to my usual get up for work time (plus snooze button once) and had to pack up and clean up stuff that I usually do the night before but I forwent to get more sleep. Took allergy meds just to make sure this morning. It was to rain off and on today and apparently that meant as soon as I left the house. I also had to fill up the tank for my car as I was too lazy to do that after training last Saturday. Going later like I usually do meant I got to the spots that usually have slowdowns that I’ve been missing going earlier. But other than that, it was uneventful drive out. As expected, very few people there and those that were were not there doing strongman stuff. Last two times I’ve come in someone has adjusted the volume on the speakers for the gym well over the posted max so that has been annoying and I’ve adjusted it both times. Don’t want the sound system speakers to “blow out”. Warming up I was feeling so-so. It was cooler today than usually has been. I was mostly keeping an eye on my knees (mostly the right one) as I had felt aches more present this week compared to the previous two weeks with the heavier moving events. It was actually feeling decent but I also had to keep in mind that some of that might be from the Dayquil I took the night before. First thing for the day was farmer’s walk. I was going to use the strip of turf in the main gym area but people were using it to at times or were near it and I think my irritation and stress were on high alert so I was having a harder time with combating usual aversion to things like being around people so I moved into the wind tunnel. Anyways, the plan was the same as last time with 50’ runs and 50lbs per hand jumps in weight. Now the plan was to not go 100% speed yet but increase speed to comfortable level beyond casual pace as well as go up 5lbs per hand (and then 5lbs more next time to contest weight). Getting the pick for the empty handles I could feel the knees aching so I figured I should do my due diligence and wear my knee sleeves for these. I think with how close this was to contest weight and the jump just a little more (and seeing yoke was to be contest weight the next two sessions) I figured I’d just do 315lbs as the top weight. I wanted to let out some stress/anger. As has felt the case, the picks felt slower than I’d like. I have to remind myself that these handles are longer/lower than what I had been using for all of last year and this year until the start of this particular prep. But moving was feeling fine. After how things went with the change in belt combo for the wagon wheel pulls last week, I decided to see how using my previous belt combo felt compared to what I was using for Regionals and so far this prep. So 265lbs per hand was with a hard belt but keeping the tightness I use for front squats and overhead lifting. It was a good thing I did test these things out as there is certainly more pressure with being able to brace with these belts and allergy meds tend to increase blood pressure. I was anxious with the top weight. I mean, I was going to be even if I was doing the same weight as last time. I was going to try pushing the speed on this (I hadn’t really been doing so warming up that much). I knew the pick would be slow and that with the handles how I pick them that it was going to be a slow start as they dip a good bit. I got set after getting chalked and breathing under control. Pick was slow but that was expected. I was not quite 100% but I was moving close to it. Definitely not used to running full speed laden at this point. Also with tight belt. I was feeling like I was getting a little off balance and grip wanted to slip with how I was moving. But finished ok. Timed this as best I could solo as this is contest weight (but not contest distance). Ended up being 12 seconds on the dot. This is the most weight I’ve done on these particular farmer’s and the most weight I’ve done on turf from this pick height (I did a cycle on turf back in 2019 for the Arnold due to the “longer distance” and having to really elevate the pick due to my back injury). This seemed to be ok but my right knee started aching from this which wasn’t great. I put stuff away and got things setup for sandbag carries. Same as last time. 300lbs for the working sets of 2 max distance carries with different hold styles and try to beat my distances from last time. I was being cowardly here because I was worried that I was not going to be able to beat those distances after essentially going to the limit the past two sessions here. And it looks like I’m to do that again next time as well. I brought the 300lbs bag out to the wind tunnel to be alone again. Did the warming up on concrete. I was initially thinking concrete for both after I couldn’t locate the handtruck as I did not want to be carrying these any further than I had to. I didn’t have the “jelly leg” sensation on the warm up sets but that didn’t calm my nerves. I had brought back up shirts in the event I was too sweaty today as well. I didn’t wear knee sleeves on these as didn’t seem to be an issue and I’d rather not have something constricting on a max distance thing like this. Got the pick and got to work. No “jelly leg” that first leg down so I felt I was home clear here. Goal was 219’. Kept going and got 4 lengths and knew I needed to get about halfway down to make sure I got over that distance. Stopped once I got to the point where my brace couldn’t hold and I was shuffling. I was surprised how far down I got as wasn’t expecting to be over 235’. So that was a nice confidence boost. I wanted to go again for the second set but I knew I needed to rest and recover. I got myself ready and plan to get 216’ here with it in bearhug. But that didn’t happen. Maybe I rushed the pick and didn’t try to get the bag up higher on my body before going off the gate. That dumb “jelly leg” sensation hit me on that first length down (always near the end of the run) and I managed to recover, I could feel the damage was done as this was feeling a lot tougher compared to last time. I didn’t get 4 lengths here for the first time this training block. My glutes and hamstring just had no more left and I knew that it was a war of attrition to try and get down to the end when I was less than halfway there. It was frustrating as my grip felt very secure and was not wavering. The only down side of the session (besides the achy right knee). But bearhug is not my strong carry style and I’ll be more often carrying sandbags load style and I just hit a big PR on that. Put away the bags and had a think on what I was going to do for the sled drag work. Now the plan was the usual 5 sets of 100’ with a minute rest. But it was raining off and on today and by the time I got to this the rain was going between hard and light. I didn’t want to have to deal with possible slips with an already unhappy right knee and trying to figure out how much weight I’d need to deduct to deal with the water and such. Also not my equipment so not wanting to get stuff wet they don’t want to get wet and rust. So inside. I was initially looking at 50’/50’ like with sled pushing on turf but that wasn’t going to work here with the length of the lead tow straps with running to them and then adjusting the setup. The sled dragging has less issues with going onto mats unlike the push so I could use the entire turf. But just about 93’. So I figured I’d guess at what weight would feel ok here and adjust as needed. Like if I picked too light, I’d shorten rest and add a set (I was still salty about the second set of sandbag carries). Can’t move as fast on the turf vs concrete. I probably could’ve gone heavier here so I shortened the rests and decided after the first four sets I’d do six sets instead to I guess make up for missing 35’ total from what is usually done here with 5x100’. Right knee was achy but the quad pump by the end did seem to make things feel a little better. I didn’t need to put much stuff away before driving home. Took a bit to decompress after getting home before stretching. My right knee was acting up off and on. Relaxing, stretching and eating dinner seemed to finally get the eye twitch to stop for a good bit. I ended up icing my right knee before bed for about 20 minutes or so for the first time since last year. I’ll have to keep an eye on things.

August 25, 2024 - August 31, 2024 - Week 12

 August 26, 2024 – Week 12, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ Bands (+14lbs/+22llbs)
No Bands
87x5
Add Bands
90x3
120x2
150x2
175x2
195x2
195x2
195x2
195x2
195x5

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
95x5
135x5
185x3
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
240x5
240x5

Bench Presses w/ Chains (+22lbs)
No Chains
45x15
Add Chains
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
225x2
275x5
275x5

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: This was not how I wanted to start the week. Or ever really. I had been somewhat aware that my newborn niece had a rough start to life and seemed ok but was back at the hospital Friday. Things escalated drastically and the direness relayed to me on Sunday had me preparing the worst. Tried to distract myself and keep busy. Hoping for the best. Woke up Monday, dreading checking messages. No news good news right? 11AM I get the notification I wished never to get. And she was gone. I took off work immediately as I was not going to be able focus and provide the services I needed to today. But I also didn’t want to sit around doing nothing and I figured training would help me with dealing with the stress and anxiety and despair. And see how I was doing and figured out if I was going to work the next day (which was of course the once a month in office day). Feeling a little numb and just playing the same music on repeat that echoed how I was feeling. Warming up I guess was fine. Knees slight aches but I seemed to be ok with adjusting things and not having them feel as achy as Saturday session. Log strict press against bands. Same as last time with it being 4x2 with up 5 for a fifth set. 5lbs over last time as that seems to be going fine. With training at around lunch time, the sun was right overhead and in my eyes facing the house so I used my polarized lens attachment to my glasses that I bought over the summer to remedy that. Shoulders were feeling decent today and not feeling so stiff in the hips, lower back or knees. I was also not really getting as lightheaded with my breathing and bracing compared to last time. No hard belt or wrist wraps still but all the soft belts. I was noticing that sometimes on the first rep of the working sets that the log got a little in front of me but I didn’t seem to have that issue with subsequent reps. And it was easily corrected during the lift. Compared to the last training cycle at this far in, I’m further ahead at this time compared to then. And I have more time still improve on things. I’m hopeful that this alternating log strict and axle with leg drive works out for me. 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. Also not trying to make any big jumps considering the circumstances. I recall the last time I attempted training when my heart was in sorrow and that didn’t end well. But I’m also not trying to do lifting in the street during a thunder storm either. Anyways, I was kind of surprised how these were feeling. I definitely could feel the sandbag work in my arms from Saturday and despite that, things were feeling pretty dandy. I made short work of this and moved on to the next thing, benching with the chains. Same as last week but adding 5lbs. Finally up to a weight where it is 40-50lbs jumps all the way up. 2x5 with same weight unless the first one is not feeling good (then drop down 10%). My hope was that I’d be fine after having a go last time with the wrist wraps and feeling a bit better used to them on the top sets. But I was also concerned about the pec tendon ache in the left side that was present Saturday and some Sunday. But with the bad news, I honestly wasn’t noticing it right now. Lower back wasn’t feeling as stiff as last time and that was better than the time before and so on so I think that my lower back is recovering better with the support gear adjustments these last 3 weeks. That easing of tension I think allowed me to get a better brace of the glutes and upper back in concert for this session. First set felt pretty good, definitely got a little fatigued with the second set as the fourth rep had been a little bit misgrooved and had to take a moment at lockout to settle before going for the last rep. But happy I guess that this is feeling more stable than it had been with the wider grip placement. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. I didn’t think that just one session with this increased tension was going to have me feeling like the next jump would be a “medium” effort so used same band and maybe a little more tension from stretching. I was going to be doing 2x20 here. This seemed to be still the right call for now. Combined my lunch and later afternoon meals together and put stuff away before stretching. Hopefully I can sleep somewhat tonight and be ready to function at work.

August 28, 2024 – Week 12, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
465x2
525x5

Step Ups (18”)
bwx20 L
bwx20 R
bw+20’sx10 L
bw+20’sx10 R

Single Leg Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds L
bwx60 seconds R

Crunches
bw+45x35

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x25

Stretching
 
Comments: Monday evening was a stressful but necessary release. I had to go into work Tuesday and despite doing my best to get things ready so I could get to work on time, I was a little slow getting out the door and there was construction on the way to work so I did end up late (but not so late I had to use leave time or be marked “absent”). The people that asked me how I was doing were supportive but I kind of just grinned and bared it. I had thought I had made it clear enough what had happened but I guess there was enough wiggle room for interpretation that the bad news wasn’t death so a few of my coworkers ended up with waterworks. I didn’t want to make anyone else sad. Still trying to distract and make myself laugh because I know I was going to be zoning out when I got back home. Also had the follow up in the late morning with gastroenterologist office and that was another hassle/chore. I’m going to try my best to not go there again as both times the doctor was running an hour behind and it is infuriating when he essentially meets with me for like 5 minutes for a response that could’ve been an e-mail or voicemail. But all this nonsense to say nothing wrong with the liver or anything that would show up on lab work for a condition. Which means very likely something I take is causing it. So seeing as how it is either the antidepressant I’ve been on for 20yrs or the supplements (creatine, vitamin C, vitamin D3, fish oil, Nutradisc) I’m not keen on dropping stuff for the slight elevation in liver enzyme levels. But guess have to see what the PCP indicates (as I asked for no full up with the gastro). So a frustrating nothingburger with an already not great start to the week. I finished up the work day and I made myself go for a walk to work off some stress and energy. A little slow with transitioning between things these days as it gets a little hard to not want to disassociate when turn off the distractions. Which can mean getting to bed a little later than I’d like and getting to work on something. I guess on top of what already doing with the increased workload at work. Warming up felt fine. It was hot but not as hot as it was threatening to get up to I guess. The effort required on this day tends to get my sweatier than the other Day 2 alternated day and Day 1 sessions. So had a small fan in the garage going and big fan for outside. Wagon wheel pulls to start things off. Same as last time with soft touch and go reps working up to a top set of 5 reps. Plan was 525lbs for this time. Big jumps name of the game. I had not felt comfortable with these last time as I was expecting them to feel better/smoother. It felt more back than I’d like and I felt like the wide pulls had been feeling stronger than these did. Part of it may be that not used to the this height and the particular belt setup. I was going to see if changing that up helped things. Another was that potentially I need to adjust the form a bit on these to feel like it isn’t all back for me. I know that I was able to do stuff from these height on axle last year and that was feeling decent. But I guess it also wasn’t touch and go. Going soft on that is challenging with the control rather than clanging and banging. I’ve dropped enough weight that I can wear the old belt setup for deadlifts. I did feel like the brace and feeling of support was better compared to the triple ply deadlift belt. It could be purely tactile and kinesthetic reasons it feels better. I used the different soft belt setups warming up here for the plate jumps and then the hard rachet belt for the last two sets with increasing tightness. I also worked on visualizing the first rep with the JF Caron image in my head and that also seemed to make the breaking of the weight better for me. The reps with heavier weight is still a hassle. I’m trying to go fast and I probably could extend the set out like I was doing with those elevated wide pulls with the big air at the top of each rep to kind treat it as breathing deads. Pulls shouldn’t be so complicated but they do be. I had picked a song to get my hyped up for the top set and it was working but then I sat too long strapped to the bar when I should’ve used the nervous energy right from the start. The first rep went up good but those slower controlled reps are exhausting to keep the set going so I was definitely slowing down and feeling fatigue on the last two reps here. The touch and go stuff also makes it hard to gauge what a max would be as well. Oh well, this was another tier on the goal weight for this event. I should also mention that my lower back didn’t act like last time where it wanted to seize up on me before the top set. From there, it was outside for step ups. Very sweaty and needing a hand towel. Starting things off with bodyweight. Only 20 reps this time around. I was debating the knee sleeves as they had felt stiff on Saturday with getting the pick on farmer’s walk and while no issues with deadlifts, it was possible that this would be tougher this week. At least with bodyweight, the left side issues were not that noticeable. Right knee was feeling a little tender but fine. Weight for the next set increased to 20lbs. 10 reps each leg and swapping in dumbbells since don’t have kettlebells for this weight. The herky jerky was definitely less this time compared to the previous two weeks. Maybe it was enough weight or dumbbells just feel different in hand. Inside again for more leg work. Single leg wall sits for more knee and quad stuff. Continuing the progression here with 5-10 seconds. But I decided that I was already close enough to a minute that I’d just do that this time. That was tough. Knee joint feels sore doing this but I can feel the benefits in these isometric holds. They suck from 20 seconds and on and around 55 seconds start to have some magic happen in the upper quads. I was just making it through this with not  only just keeping the position but also bracing. I knew that it was probably best for me to take a bit longer break between the sides. So rather than like 90 seconds I did about 180 seconds or so. That was likely needed to make these go as well as they did. I could tell I was going to be feeling these later. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. I stuck to what I did last time with 45lbs. I can’t really think of a viable way to really be adding weight with what I got with how things kind of have to be held here and the last few reps continue to be challenging anyways. Again, using the 5 rep clusters in my head to get the set done. I had already got everything setup for the last thing but took a break to get my dinner ready so that I could rest a little and be able to eat shortly after I finished putting stuff away. I was a sweaty mess. Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. This was a challenging time with them. So first, hands felt sensitive with the grip holding which is a first on these. I was able to get over that initial discomfort and go on with my day. But these did feel tougher. I was trying to get better ROM on these at the beginning as well as better quality of the holds. Thankful no spine tension like there was one time doing these. I’m realizing now that I’m also working these same muscles when doing the single leg wall sits because I’m holding the one leg up in the knee raise position for the duration. So making a little sense that these might not be as improving as quickly compared to no weight because I’m doing a 60 seconds hold each side earlier in the session. I did make it to one more rep than last time though. Put stuff away and ate before stretching.

August 31, 2024 – Week 12, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke (turf)
250x50’
350x50’
450x50’
550x50’
650x50’
750x50’

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

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

Stretching
 
Comments: It has been an odd week for me. The days have just kind of gone together and really the only thing that has kind of made keep track has been whether I trained or not really. Just in a kind of daze most of the time and trying to find things that make me laugh or feel something as I am feeling a bit numb most of the time right now with processing things. Kind of feels like this is going to be the case until there is some sort of closure for me and my family. I can’t be certain that my plans beyond today are going to be set in stone with funeral stuff. Trying my best to not really think about it and take things as they come. I wasn’t really expecting to go out to train early like I have been but I figured I should as less time at home was probably better and I could keep active. As it so happened, my friend that just competed in Ireland is thinking about doing Nationals in three weeks. All gas and no brakes with that one. So it probably made sense to go out early again as some equipment they won’t be able to use besides this week (contest next weekend, gym closed the next for powerlifting meet). For some reason, I didn’t seem to be moving slow in the morning and I was on the road earlier than I was expecting honestly. The drive out is always smoother it seems going earlier rather than later. It felt really cool out today so maybe I didn’t need to bring all the towels and shirts to change. There were a lot of people there today but this could be because I’ve been getting out there earlier so I’m just seeing the people the usually are there. But there were some notable absences. I ended up sharing about the family issue with my friend (as they actually ask “how are you doing” vs just saying it to say “hi”). I had got stuff set up for the first thing of the day but ended up delaying my start to assist with conan’s wheel stuff because it takes a village to setup, operate and teardown that thing. It was thankfully a bit overcast compared to last weekend. Now when I said setting up for myself, I just meant I put a yoke on the turf at my height. I spent too long with the conan’s wheel setup so my setup ended up being used for someone to train arm-over-arm so I was not longer in a rush at this point as I’d have to wait for them to be done (as the other yokes were in use). Knees were a bit achy and I was considering knee sleeves for today but decided I’d finish out this 4 week block of training without them on events. After helping with 2.5 events or so for people, I went to do my own training finally. I kind of welcomed the distraction as it is something I enjoy doing. Yoke again with the plan being 750lbs for 50’, taking 100lbs jumps. The humidity at this point hit hard and I was felt maybe I didn’t bring enough stuff to combat how badly I as sweating. 750lbs would tie the most weight I’ve done on yoke for a run in training since 2019. I hit this weight twice leading up to Nationals last year and once by accident for Regionals this year. But this would be on turf and not wearing sleeves and going at 100% speed. It has been several months since I’ve tried going fast on moving events and I’m generally not trying to go as fast as possible on the sandbag carries for max distance to make sure grip stays secure and I don’t burn out. I’m realizing how important it is for me to be bracing everything on the yoke pick to start so that knees feel fine. I was feeling pretty nonchalant for the first three runs. Then 550lbs felt damn heavy out of nowhere and I realized this may be bit difficult. I may need to swap out what belts I use for the yoke and farmer’s as things did seem to indicate the my usual belt combo on elevated pulls worked better than the triply ply deadlift belt. But I figured for consistency’s sake I’d wear same gear as last time to finish out this block. I. I could feel my hamstrings on the 550lbs and up weights which I usually don’t on yoke. Usually it is back and quads. Before 750lbs, I notice I had what looked like blood on my right sock but couldn’t figure out where it came from. Oh well. 750lbs felt slower than I’d have liked and bit “unstable” with my gait at times. I have to remind myself that turf is tougher for me on yoke (and this is contest) and I’ve purposely made the yoke not as stable with taking out a set of pins. 20lbs off the contest weight this far out (and likely doing contest week next session) and still leaving some things in the tank (no chalk, no knee sleeves, not going 100% speed, grip shirt, etc). I’m pretty much there at 4.5 months out on both yoke and farmer’s but need to clean them up and make it so that this is something I can do no problem. Put stuff away to move onto sandbag loads. 300lbs sandbag again (going become friends with this) for EMOM singles. 2 more sets on top of last time. Again, it didn’t feel like it made sense to do anything lighter than 250lbs to warm up considering I had been moving a lot of weights around (45lbs – 125lbs) a good bit so again decided to jump right into it. The 250lbs bag felt rough that first single, like I knew it would and then felt just fine and dandy the second one. I switched out a new shirt and didn’t bother with chalk this time. I was too sweaty as it was and the chalk on my arms didn’t stay last time (shirt stuff did). Then 300lbs time. I got set and went for it. Not sure what the first pick was about as it was herky jerky and there was hesitation before it went up. Maybe I got too cold after the 250lbs load? In either case, I didn’t encounter that issue on any of the following reps. The orientation of the Velcro top for the sandbag is honestly the biggest issue with securing a good grip on this thing. This was fine and comfortable. I was a little nervous about my hamstrings just because they had been lit up on the yoke surprisingly. My sweaty arms and hands actually started to make the bag wet on the ends I was gripping by the end. Finished this up no problem. Last thing being the sled work. I was moving a little slower to one make sure that fluids would stay down and make sure that I didn’t rush things. I was worried I’d not be feeling great here considering the humidity as last time it was feeling this bad it was a struggle. Last time this had gone well I think but it didn’t get recorded. I was optimistic until the sled drags the following week got back to being a good bit tougher. So I set things up for the 5 sets of 50’/50’ with the two prowlers and same weight as I’ve done for the previous two weeks. Put all three shirts I had gotten sweaty outside to dry and made sure to hit record. I think I did have a little bit of an epiphany here in that short, choppy steps are not efficient on the turf due to the friction and lack of momentum to build. Maybe it was seeing the guy do arm-over-arm on turf that had me think that. So I went with longer strides and that seemed to make a big difference. But I wasn’t sure if this would last over the sets. But it did. This was about the equivalent of how the sled drags had felt two sessions prior. I was not really sucking wind very long after this and was able to just start putting stuff away after a few moments rather than sitting down. So maybe this works and I’ll need to adjust weight for the next time. I ended up being at the gym longer than I was anticipating with the setup stuff for other people when I got there. I think knowing that I’m off work Monday for holiday is allowing me to relax. Hopefully getting some longer sleep will let me process things a bit and get the stress out in dreams. Uneventful drive home and stretched out before eating again.