October 6, 2024 - October 12, 2024 - Week 18

 October 7, 2024 – Week 18, 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
200x2

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
105x5
155x5
205x5
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
255x5
255x5

Bench Presses w/ Chains (+22lbs)
No Chains
45x15
Add Chains
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
230x5
230x5

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: The heavy stuff of this training cycle is starting to kick my ass. My left ankle/foot was kind of cramping on me a little walking Sunday. When feet and hands get that kind of fatigued, I know that I’ve been pushing it hard. Body feeling stiff so important to move around and make sure I’m monitoring stuff loosening up with the active recovery stuff. Luckily, it does seem that there is going to be some spacing between the heavier stuff as far as moving events going forward in this prep. I mean, I’m already doing nearly 15% and 20% above contest for farmer’s and yoke respectively. Contest weight sandbag stuff, over 90% on deadlift and ideally at 80% or less on axle (assuming that is on point for 300lbs or more). At this point it’s a matter of staying injury free and recovering well enough to keep progressing. As I want to be feeling strong for whatever and not just this upcoming show that I could do right this second. Weight is about the same as last week so another week under 275lbs. Work thankfully wasn’t that stressful of a day but week has only just begun. Warming up was ok. I was a little slow going. There was stuff still achy and sore. But not as much as I was expecting if that makes sense. I may have been doing the wrong variation of push up this whole time after seeing Mr. Westerling put up an example video of some of the warming up stuff I do. Oh well, still does the job. Starting things off with log. Back to doing things strict press style with bands and weight bumped back up to 200lbs for the planned working sets of 5x2. My mind must have been elsewhere as I setup the rack height one too high and didn’t realize until it was time for the working weight sets. Perhaps I was just noticing that I was stressed/fatigued in that I was having issues with sensory stuff (my music seemed too loud today) and my forearms cramping slightly just pinching gripping plates to weigh down the racks I was using. Despite that, I was feeling mostly good with how the log pressing was feeling. I wasn’t getting lightheaded today. I was really getting good movement on the first rep of each set but seemed to not be that consistent on the second rep. First set the second rep I took it a bit more back so it was in my throat. Second set I got a bit forward on my first rep so lead to a tougher second rep. Third set I think I got surprised by the speed of the first rep and lost tightness on the eccentric and had the weight go way forward on the second rep. I feel I finally got everything on the right page for the last two sets with the last one feeling the best. In to the garage for the rest of the workout. I was trying to move things along so dinner wasn’t super late. Right shoulder was a little achy but not as bad as it was two weeks ago for this session where it was feeling like I got a needle jabbed in the medial deltoid. My left thumb was holding up and so far no bleeding from the wound. Chest supported barbell rows with pauses, 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 needed. This had been a bit rough last time I did these so I was ready for it to be like that this time as well. Forearms were sore but thankfully not so much that I felt it hampered anything warming up without straps. I got set for the working weight and was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t feel as difficult as 250lbs did last time. So I kept it the same for the second set. That one was a little bit tougher. The pressure from those holds did lead to the cut opening a little and leaking some (but only a little) so I put a band-aid on and taped to keep things clean for the rest of the session. So next was benching. Chains and 2x5. These are lighter for now and focused on speed which is the best thing at this point. Just 5lbs more than last time. I was having issues working up in weight but not what is typical. I think it was due to the bandage and tape on the left thumb as it was visually throwing me off and I think having it wrapped also deprived me of my usual tactile sensation I use to get my grip set. So working up I had some issues with getting everything to line up with my form but seemed to get it to cooperate and fall in line for the working sets. These were fine. Just got to keep an eye on the right shoulder here. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. Did these in the garage as well to speed up things. I was tempted to go up in band tension with adding a small band but figured it was best to try and stretch the current band some more considering the sore forearms. This did seem to be the right call as I was able to manipulate the band to make things tougher. With that done, I started preparing dinner and then while it was simmering, put the weights and such away. Stretched after eating.

October 9, 2024 – Week 18, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
495x2
585x2

Step Ups (18”)
bwx20 L
bwx20 R
bw+25’sx15 L
bw+25’sx15 R

Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds

Crunches
bw+50x32

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x26

Stretching
 
Comments: As expected, the work week got hectic Tuesday and Wednesday after the false calm of Monday. I think there was also stress worrying about family in the south in path of the hurricane as well. But they seem to know the drill and what to do. Sent in absentee ballot since won’t be in the state for election day. Cold enough in the morning to switch from A/C to heat now. I was both looking forward to training and worried. Eager because of what I was hoping to be doing on the wagon wheel deadlifts this session but worried because I was feeling noticeably more worn then I was two weeks prior. I think my hope here was to get through this heavy set of deadlifting and that the holiday coming up and having it be a light event session would allow me to recover a bit. Warming up was ok. Nothing feeling terribly achy so that was good. Then as mentioned, the anticipated 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. I wanted 585lbs here. I felt like I had that in me last time and it would put me ahead of the game. Still leave something in the tank but not as much. I was concerned about my hamstrings feeling a bit sore still from Saturday but seemed to be fine with setup and working up. I was also keeping an eye on the left hand to make sure nothing was bleeding but it seems it has healed up nicely enough that I needn’t worry about it. The plate jumps were feeling pretty good and feeling about how they felt last time. So I was feeling like 585lbs was a done deal. Until it wasn’t. I got set and was amped up and that first pull did feel like it took longer to get moving than I would’ve liked. That was my first indication that my top end might be not there today. But despite the slower pull, I felt in control and that the second rep was pretty solid. But I guess not as I went for the third rep and I guess I lost my brace slightly and it got me a little out in front and loose in my lats. I got the bar back up to my knees (not quite above the top) and I started shaking and that shaking had it get too far in front and I lost it. I was quite pissed that I missed a rep. I hate missing reps and lifts. Has me doubting myself. Didn’t want to just throw the baby out with the bath water here. Need to realize I’m fatigued a good bit with essentially having Saturday be a max effort farmer’s pick and other stuff feeling fatigued like grip, upper back and lower body. I did this with prep near the end on the suited pulls and managed to salvage things to keep momentum going forward and hit PR at contest. I’m still ahead of predictions as far as this lift goes as the suggested for next time was to do this weight for a double. Just have to see if plan gets adjusted according to feedback. I think the missed lift thing sucks for me so much because it happens more often with the things that need work for me like my overhead and deadlift while rarely happens with usual events. And if it does, it is usually when I’m going a bit over the contest weights. Had to get myself focused on moving on. Since indoors last time worked so well with the step ups, I decided to do that again. Quicker setup for things and no issues with weather conditions. Knee sleeves on here. Starting things off with bodyweight and higher reps. This felt tougher than I recall last time but that could be because since then I’ve done the heaviest farmer’s walk and heaviest yoke since 2018 back to back. I noticed front squats last week had felt tough too. But more so the left side has a tougher go of things here vs the right side. Then added weights for the top set with plan of 12-15 reps here. I really must have been distracted or out of it after the deadlift miss because I accidentally grabbed my 15lbs kettlebells instead of my 10lbs. It felt odd in my hands and I was wondering if that was because of the scabbing on the one hand or something. Bodyweight had already felt tougher than I was expecting so adding weight felt about that too. Only realizing after the fact that I was doing more weight than I was doing last time. Oops. I’ll have to see if I should go back down or just stick at this point. If so, I’ll just grab the 25lbs plates with grips as I’m sure that will feel better than holding multiple things. Wall sits were next. I had already switched to the regular style a session early to help with recovery for the knees. I can also tolerate being in a deeper squat position compared to the single leg version. This felt as nice as I guess holding a wall squat can be. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. These plates had made things challenging again and I was able to go up 5 reps last time. I wasn’t sure if I could get 35 reps this time for another 5 reps. Left side my glute and hip flexor were feeling tight but I was feeling decently strong. These got a lot tougher with this setup so even trying to do the chunks method of counting doesn’t really help a ton. But it did manage to get me over 30 reps though so maybe not nothing.  Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. Kicking myself for not trying this setup in the garage first as it works so much better. I was imagining that this was probably going to be tougher than usual with the fatigue in the grippers and just how the hip flexion feeling after the other stuff. But apparently I was good to go here and managed to finally get an extra rep after several sessions at 25 reps. So minus the missed rep on deadlifts, this was a good session. But of course I sour it thinking about that missed rep because that was the “important” thing. Put stuff away as I got dinner ready. Stretched afterwards.

October 12, 2024 – Week 18, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke (turf)
200x60’
300x60’
400x60’
500x60’
600x60’ in 9.70 seconds
600x60’ in 9.27 seconds

Yoke Pushes (turf, 60 seconds rest)
200x50’/200x50’
200x50’/200x50’
200x50’/200x50’
200x50’/200x50’
200x50’/200x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: I was definitely feeling a little deflated in my confidence after the missed deadlift rep on Wednesday. I’d like to say I wasn’t thinking about it and having it weigh on me but it was. But I think that just made me aware that I may be a little overworked at the moment with combination of training, work and life. I’m probably going to need to deload a little in stuff to get back to a good equilibrium. Think and review past trainings to get things sorted. But I knew I was feeling a bit more worn and that I may be needing a break. I knew this coming gym session wouldn’t be as taxing as most have been with event work and hopefully with the three day weekend I’ll be able to get some rest in to offset stuff. I was feeling tired so I ended up not walking Friday so as to keep focus on work so not having things to do Tuesday right away and then be able to just eat meals early and get some extra sleep. I knew that I was going to struggle with getting up early so just set my alarm for my usual work time. I ended up hitting snooze for another half hour before getting out of bed. I already had everything prepped so I just had to eat breakfast and brush my teeth really before going to train. I was seriously considering just training at home as the session was lighter and just two things. But I told myself it was important to do this at the strongman gym. There were two lane closures near my house and I was again thinking of turning around but it thankfully wasn’t much worse than when the traffic is congested anyways. I was a bit surprised there were as many people there as there were. It had not been very active two weeks ago and was essentially a ghost town last week. I wasn’t really in a rush here since I only had two things to do this session. Someone was doing tire flips and a I was slightly tempted to do that (only 425lbs tire). Warming up was fine. I did try using what I think is the correct pushup variation in the warm-ups this time around. Can definitely tell that some things in the lower body aren’t quite recovered, but it is early in that. I’ve not yet nuked myself like I’ve done in the past. First up was yoke. It has been heavy and more weight on this and farmer’s walk every session. But this is a change of pace to hopefully stretch things out as well as skill work. Plan here was to work up to 600lbs for two set. Initially as 50’ but I suggested I do contest distance of 60’ here when it comes to the lighter stuff. I want this because I’ve been doing 50’ and I’ve been noticing that I start off strong but seem to sputter out a bit near the end on my heavier stuff so I’d rather get used to the contest distance and going fast in this capacity. This was part of the reason I wanted to be at the gym. I’ve not really done this weight for speed in quite some time and certainly not during this prep. I was essentially doing just the casual pace stuff and I wanted to see what I could do on turf for this distance and get timing. I wouldn’t really be able to get that luxury at home. My knees were feeling pretty darn achy getting into position under the yoke so I know things are getting worked with training. 100lbs jumps and this was definitely me trying to go 100% speed or near it on the warming up sets. 500lbs was feeling slower/tougher than I’d have liked here. But just going by feel. I’ve not really timed the runs on turf as I didn’t do them a lot in the past. But I do know that turf tends to feel heavier on the body and I’m usually about a second slower compared to what I do on concrete floor. I really don’t know what my expectations were here but I just had an idea in my head that I had to get under 12 seconds here. I mean that wouldn’t be the speed I wanted here but I figured that was where the measure had to be. But ideally under 10 seconds to be in a good place. First set I got set and it was decent but I didn’t feel like this was my best and how I should be moving. But it was under 10 seconds so that was something there. Second set I felt my quality of stride and movement was better and that was about half a second faster there. So goal met here. The only other thing for the session then was sled work, which I’ve decided to have as yoke pushing on turf instead so only have to use one implement and make things interesting. I was told to use 200lbs for this session with the same 5 sets of 100’ (50’/50’ for this) with a minute rest. I was finding a little tricky to get the yoke right so that I wasn’t lifting it up when I was pushing. But it still seems temperamental depending on the angle so I have to be consistent. I’m not sure if the turf in the strip vs the wind tunnel are different but this felt harder than what I did last time with a little more weight. I feel like I did more last time before this session but It could be the cumulative fatigue telling me to back off some. I had kept my knee sleeves on for these but took them down after the third set to see if that helped at all with my leg fatigue. Maybe a little. The fatigue wall hit hard on the fifth set like is usually the case on these things for me (although hasn’t been as of late). It took a bit for me to feel well enough to get my breathing right and my legs to feel comfortable supporting myself without feeling sick. Like last week, I decided to stick around at the gym to stretch out before going. George showed up late and I talked with him a bit. I then had a good idea about how to train for an event coming up at OSG (wrecking ball hold) and had to try that out to see if it worked and boy that did. Like it is almost perfect. I guess I’m also a little bored about doing the same events for so many weeks on end and nothing coming up really is that exciting. Hopefully I rest up well and get some good ideas on paper to get me through another couple weeks and feeling hunky-dory.