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.