October 20, 2024 - October 26, 2024 - Week 20

 October 21, 2024 – Week 20, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ Bands (+14lbs/+22llbs)
No Bands
87x5
Add Bands
90x3
120x2
150x2
180x2
205x2
205x2
205x2
205x2
205x2

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
110x5
160x5
210x5
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
260x5
260x5

Bench Presses w/ Chains (+22lbs)
No Chains
45x15
Add Chains
45x5
95x5
135x3
185x2
235x5
235x5

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Allergies been pretty bad since Saturday afternoon. Mostly just feeling tired sensation from sinus pressure and other stuff. I was able to sleep in Sunday. Under 274lbs for this weigh-in. Not sure if that will be the case next time as I did a bit of meal deviation Sunday as I had been craving some Primanti Brothers and got three sandwiches (715 calories each) for dinner. Walking was fine Sunday. Not feeling as sore and beat as I did two weeks ago after my heaviest farmer’s walk so far since 2016 back injury. Ideally want to get allergies under control as have to go into work for office day Tuesday and then going to Arizona end of next week to visit family. Monday came along and hoped nasal spray was going to be enough but ended up taking a Claritin late in the morning. Didn’t really feel like it kicked in until after work. It could just be that the variance in temperature from the morning (close to freezing) and then late afternoon (80ish) also not helping. Trying to cut down on the stress that I can with work and the trip. A potential competition on the west coast has my interest but I’m just entertaining possibilities until middle of December when I have more details and better idea of how I am. If I do what I need to in January, I won’t have to worry about things much. Warming up for training was fine. I’m kind of surprised that my joints have been not feeling as achy as they were 2-3 weeks ago. I’ll take it. Starting things off with log strict press style with bands. 5lbs more added to last time for the planned working sets of 5x2. Feeling decent warming up on this today. I wasn’t getting lightheaded today here either. I was a little concerned that I might because I had to take the allergy meds. I was tempted to just do 10lbs added so 30lbs jumps all the way up but I know I need to do small jumps here as this can be tricky and need to monitor for recovery. First working set felt decent. Not great but not ugly. I felt it was better feeling than the first set last time. Second set I had a little issue here as I hit my chin on the first rep so I misgrooved the second rep a little bit. Third set I think was the best set of the session. Fourth set I got a little off balance and had to take a step forward on the second rep to insure I was stable and locked out. Fifth set was good, possibly tied with the third set. Still getting in decent reps and volume here considering things. It is nice being able to do these rather than say push pressing out of the rack with the log. Alternating strict style with leg drive style seems to be key for my knees to tolerate moving events every week and keep recovering. In to the garage for rows. 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. I didn’t think it would be needed as last time I had felt more beat and it went swimmingly. Still keeping an eye on the right shoulder after it was weird two sessions prior (when it was “deload” for the overhead). Barely noticed it compared to last time and that was a ton less than the session before that. Trying to make sure I was taking appropriate rest between sets here. This was fine but definitely not as easy feeling as last time did. But still felt fine with keeping things as they were for the two sets. I feel the ceiling on this is still a ways away since I never really pushed this one in the past with pauses. So next was benching. Chains and 2x5. Not really feeling these as of late but still following the program. Just 5lbs more than last time. Just got to keep an eye on the right shoulder here as this is where the ache pops up if it is going to at all in this session. I didn’t have issues with my hands due to no bandaging to mess with things. But I was having issues with grip, bracing and tightness warming up. I had to be a little more loosey goosey with things to get stuff feeling safe and good. Maybe I should’ve used the wrist wraps on these as felt a little heavy weight in hand wise but still moving the weight fast. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. I went outside for these as it felt like I’d have less issues with the setup moving due to tension. I also wanted to give myself an excuse to take a little longer with clean up when done so that my dinner could finish heating up. Still using the same band as can get a decent amount of tension out of it still with stretching it. I might be able to go a little further but definitely getting things to feel a little more challenging here compared to when I first started using this band tension. I like these because of how these seem to make the shoulders and such feel good. But I may need to go up in band tension shortly. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out. Taking some Dayquil to hopefully help me get to sleep reasonable time since I have to wake up an hour earlier for work crap.

October 23, 2024 – Week 20, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)
135x5
225x3
315x2
405x2
500x2
595x2

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

Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds

Crunches
bw+50x35

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

Stretching
 
Comments: As I mentioned Monday, allergies were kicking my but since Saturday afternoon. I felt drained most of the time Monday until after work and felt that way for most of Tuesday. Again, another pointless in office day which ends up being the least productive day for me of the month (with the day after being the second most and the day before the third most). I had to help with preparing a charcuterie board to give you an idea of how unproductive a day it was for actual work. Then 30 minutes commute home for no apparent reason. I did start feeling a little better once the sun started going down. Thankfully I wasn’t feeling that way waking up on Wednesday. But I wasn’t too sure how this training session would go. Warming up was ok. Nothing feeling terribly achy so that was good. Then for the wagon wheel. I was a little anxious here as last time was the first time I didn’t pick my weight right and missed a rep. But it also let me know that I needed to have some things adjusted as far as recovery purposes with lower body stuff. As has been the case, these are soft touch and go reps with big weight jumps up to a top set. This time being a top double with something in the tank. I had kind of screwed things up with going for 585lbs and then missing the third rep. As that would’ve been a good weight for the double really for this first time around. Unlike last time, I wasn’t feeling paranoid about my hamstrings so that was at least something. 585lbs had actually been the suggested for this session from when first programmed but I had jumped the gun. I had asked Mr. Westerling what he thought I should be doing for this session considering the miss last time and possible fatigue issues. He said to work up to 500lbs and see how that felt. If felt like crap, then shut it down. If not bad, go for 590lbs for the top set. So I had a plan. But I knew I’d have to try my best to keep my ego at bay here as I could already tell I was making little side bets and promises with myself in case things felt really good. Like the opposite of the front squats where if things felt bad I could pump the breaks. The indication though to determine may not be terribly helpful as last time the warming up sets with the 405lbs and 495lbs actually felt really strong so I was surprised with how things ended up. I made sure that I got a decent rest between the sets here so I wasn’t just doing 90lbs jumps with the low volume and going quick. Trying to be cognizant of the hip hinge and not have what happened where I lost my brace and got out of position. Things were actually feeling pretty solid. I’d say this was probably the best that 405lbs has felt on this setup this prep. That always seems to be where things start to feel hard. I got set as if 500lbs may be the top set but I knew it wasn’t with how things were feeling. It was time then for the top set. I had been told to do 590lbs for the double. But I was telling myself that if it felt good to do a triple to make up for last time. Also feeling the compulsion to go for 600lbs now. Do contest weight now, you’re so close already. I decided on a compromise and elected to do 595lbs. It wasn’t contest weight but is was spitting distance and I knew I wouldn’t feel tempted to make it a triple with this weight. Also it is 270kgs so it seemed to satisfy the neurotic side of things for me. Now to do it and not eat it. I have to remind myself that this setup doesn’t seem to have much give in it like jack stands and that it is slow going and feel in the lower back and hamstrings a lot. Got that first rep up well enough and took a deep breath to brace and go for the double. Not quite even grip/balance with the light touch but I knew I had it. Didn’t quite do as much of a breath to brace to lower that rep as I was done. About 3 months out here and pretty much at contest weight on a less forgiving setup (stiff bar). A little bit of a break here to put away the weights and get some fluids in. At this point I put on the small oscillating fan in the garage to get some air flow going since I was staying inside for the workout. Setups again. Knee sleeves on here as a must to help the knees be able to recover between sessions. I know these are important with getting volume in for moving events. Bodyweight certainly felt better compared to last time. As I had accidentally used more weight than I was supposed to last time when I grabbed the wrong weights, I stuck with that decision. But used my iron grip 25lbs plates instead of the mixture of dumbbell and kettlebell. Left side definitely has a tougher time of things compared to the right side. I had started getting dinner ready at this point. Wall sits were next. Bodyweight and deeper squat style then I was doing when single leg. Just a minute and that seems fine. Legs get all twitch holding and I try my best to keep my breathing similar to when I do the planks. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. I’ve been thinking about what the next progression here would be with the plates. But not quite at that point where I need to worry as still not gotten 35 reps with this setup. From the start I did the bite size set breaks mentally. That potentially felt like it wasn’t going to cut it this time but I was able to get to 30 reps and then managed to eek out the remaining 5. It was tough. So I got at least another workout with this before I start having to worry about adjusting the weights.  Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. Gave myself another slight break here. Trying to time things so that dinner would be ready to eat once I finished training and put away everything. I had finally gotten over 25 reps on these and I was hoping to keep that going. These felt tough today right off the bat and I managed to match my reps from last time here. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

October 26, 2024 – Week 20, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke (turf)
255x50’
355x50’
455x50’
555x50’
655x25’
755x25’
855x25’8”

Yoke Pushes
175x50’
175x50’
(60 seconds rest)
195x50’/195x50’
205x50’/205x50’
215x50’/215x50’
220x50’/220x50’
225x50’/225x50’

Stretching
 
Comments: The start of the work had me feeling a bit low energy with allergies and I seemed to perk up at the midpoint of the week. Having to figure out what exactly I need to have taken care of for this coming week before leaving. I wanted this to be a good training session. I ended up hitting snooze for another half hour before getting out of bed. Had to prep some things before leaving but I was feeling decent. I knew there was going to be some traffic issues when I got out to the gym but thankfully I was early enough that it wasn’t a mess (but boy was it one by the time I left). There were some people there today for the gym. A good chunk of the time there was them getting new sandbag stuff filled up. I spoke with the one owner about turf and implements as I was told to not do farmer’s walk on the turf going forward. Apparently there are also some renovations being done (painting has been happening the past few weeks it seems). I guess will be finished when I come back from Arizona. Speaking of that, not going to be training out there. Don’t want to worry about it and just focus on family stuff and hopefully recover enough for the last 12 weeks of prep for the contest. I did get approval for yoke on the turf as that was really the only thing I was kind of hoping was an option. I started warming up and I feel like I was ok at the start but then near the end of it it was like the allergy meds stopped working. Granted, I had only done some nasal spray. But I had done my other sessions kind of feeling that way. Yoke was really the only thing for today besides conditioning. This was the heavy session and the plan was to work up to 855lbs for a 50’ run. Some changes in that I didn’t have to do 50’ runs all the way up so I could hopefully not be as fatigued. I wasn’t feeling like my joints were bothering me. Using the big yoke again. It wasn’t feeling bad but I was feeling like I wasn’t able to go as fast as I could. Not that big a deal when working up. 555lbs felt slower than I’d have liked. That was the last of the 50’ runs and then going to 25’ runs for the next two jumps (100lbs). 655lbs felt comfortable and maybe I was just needing to treat things a little more serious and use the hard belt (this was the first set with it). However, the 755lbs felt really heavy. Similar to how when I accidentally did 810lbs and my 700lbs run felt heavy. Heavy as in I didn’t want my top set to really feel like that. I knew I was in trouble with getting 855lbs for 50’. I had not thought that was a big ask of myself as this is about 90% of my best no drop yoke run for this distance (grant turf vs concrete). I got set but I knew there was a high chance I wasn’t finishing the run. But figured I’d get under the weight and see. Be stubborn like that. I told Gavin that I wasn’t going to attempt to repick if I dropped it. The pick and start wasn’t so terrible and I thought for the moment maybe. But then I slowed down and every step was just moving me around a lot. My vision was also kind of tunneling on me. I ended up just a little over half way on this. This may be the second time where I’ve been unsuccessful with a planned yoke run since the 2016 restart from injury. Not including heavy stuff in competition. This is the most weight I’ve put on my back for yoke since 2018. But I was irked by it. It’s 155lbs over my next show’s event weight but I keep thinking about the next show and the big picture. I know that yoke is a crapshoot for me warming up at shows and I feel better when it comes time for show if I’ve done at least two sessions at or above contest weight. And the less taxing the event weight is for me, the less it should hopefully take out of me contest day. Especially since yoke is the first event at this next show. It does make me wonder about my ability to recover from training sessions like I used to when I was younger. The weights felt like 100lbs heavier than I thought they were and I was checking to make sure my math was right after I did 755lbs and 855lbs. Even lighter stuff (600lbs) if I think about it is running with close to my deadlift max without a suit. Not sure if the solution is to pull back, consolidate so loaded carries are same week (farmer’s and yoke) with differing intensities. I had hoped I could do a few more of the heavier than contest sessions but may not be in the cards if attempting to bring up my deadlift as well. I’ll worry about that after I get back. I was seriously thinking of just leaving after putting away the weights for the yoke and going home to maybe finish the workout. But I made myself finish up the conditioning. Yoke pushing because the prowler setup is annoying. I had been doing the pushes on turf but even with the empty yoke, the friction was making that too tough to actually be moving fast like how the sled drags have been going. I had mentioned this to Mr. Westerling and he indicated I could adjust the weight so that it was feeling like a speed work thing rather than a conditioning slow burn thing. So I decided I’d move to concrete so that way I could start fresh and get an idea of weight going forward. If the turf had been banned for me doing yoke on, I’d have stuck to turf for these for something. I did the empty yoke for a few sets here to see how it felt. Unlike on turf, it wasn’t as temperamental with height of the crossbar and how I was pushing into it. Which was good. Same as it has been with 5 sets of 100’ (50’/50’ for this) with a minute rest. The concrete is a lot better for pushing vs the outside I do the sled drags on. But that lack of friction can be an issue if say going for 500-600lbs range with getting traction for the feet. I thought I picked a good weight but it turned out to be too light so I decided I’d add weight each set and hopefully I’d get close to something by the end. 10lbs jumps at the start and then after the first 3 runs went to 5lbs jumps. The pushing one way was much smoother and then the way back the friction felt greater. Like there was a going with and against the grain situation. But even on the heaviest pushing set, I was still going faster than fastest run with the sled. So I will likely need to do 235lbs or more next time around. I was also planning to just go home at this point and maybe stretch. But I decided to stick around and really make sure I took advantage of the facility to stretch things out. Drive home wasn’t bad. But I know I’ll be stressing on not being able to meet my expectations on yoke and try and figure out what I need to have changed to get everything feeling good. Because when things feel good, stuff is fast and smooth. I know I’m going to need a day to just decompress.

October 13, 2024 - October 19, 2024 - Week 19

 October 14, 2024 – Week 19, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Push Press (one clean)
50x5
80x3
110x2
140x2
170x1
200x1
230x1
260x1

Axle Push Presses (EMOM)
250x1
255x1
260x1
265x1
270x1

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 18
abx5 at pin 20
lbx5 at pin 22

12” Log Incline Bench Presses w/ Bands (+5lbs/+25lbs)
97x8
137x5
167x3
192x2
217x8

Chin Up Holds
bw+35x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+60x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: Off work for holiday so I figured it made sense to train in the early afternoon rather than late, especially with daylight starting to become a premium with it getting closer to the DLS switch next month. It will be darkness when I train at that time. With not having to work today, I took advantage of the rest situation the past two nights getting about 10hrs sleep. Weight still under 275lbs but seems to be just barely this week. I have many months to get down to 265lbs if needed for a competition if necessary. Really windy today and ended up taking some nasal spray before training because allergies seemed to hit me around noon. My lower body is definitely beat at this point. I was surprised how stiff my knees felt walking Sunday and that how tight my hips were. I guess I’ve not really had the opportunity to really go fast and force that speed as of late. Hips and quads are feeling a bit sore even today. So it is probably a good thing I plan on doing the “lighter” option for my Day 2 session this week. But hey, maybe I’ll be feeling refreshed and great by then. Have to play it by ear on the day I think. I was genuinely surprised with how I was feeling doing the warming up for the session. I was figuring I’d be stiff and sore and joints would hurt considering I felt that way the day before. But thankfully not the case. I got things setup for axle. Again, plan here was to work up to a top single and then move on to rack work. My hope was since my body wasn’t aching a lot that my knees wouldn’t be a concern like they were last time I did these and I could be a bit more comfortable with myself. With the axle clean and press, things had been pretty good with how I felt about things last time so a lot of worries about that being off had left. Aim was to do more than last time. I was given leeway depending on how things feel to go 10-20lbs more. Have to see how the last single felt to determine things. Another good thing was that the new skin on my left thumb (from when I smashed it between plates about a week ago) was not having any issues with the axle. I did make a point of filming the singles working up for my own perusal to see how things went. I still got some anxiety about the pick to get that initial pop to the midsection. I was definitely using the catch on the flip from stomach to shoulders as my dip drive for the stuff up to 200lbs. It’s fast but not efficient for heavier stuff. But I do like to keep it there just to know that I can. Like it has me feel powerful. And sometimes I need that little pick me up to get back into the right mindset with training. Especially with over 16yrs of this. I elected to go for 20lbs from the 230lbs lift. It should be there and I think that as I get more confident in that I’m not going to screw up things here that I’ll have things move even better. Comfortable for the most part (would rather I caught it a little higher). Now one thing I did change up from how I was doing things last cycle with axle (besides no jerks) is that I didn’t walk the weight when I was done into the rack. One reason being that the weight was going to be a little less for the rack work to start and because I kind of wanted to bring that weight back down to Earth with a slam. Just lift and not worry about navigating crash pads and rack arms. Even with taking stuff off the bar and setting up for the rack work, I knew it wasn’t going to take nearly as long as it had at the gym the one time. And I’d be in familiar circumstances. Like last time, this was to be 5 singles with the same weight out of the rack done EMOM style but 10lbs more than last time. However, I was given the option to go up a little if it was feeling good. I hadn’t bothered with that the first session because of the knees and the setup being unfamiliar. Knees were feeling ok for the most part. So I figured that I’d see if I could add 5lbs a rep for the EMOM. I like the idea of starting the rack work lighter than the clean and press stuff because sometimes the rack stuff the unracking of weight feels off at the start and takes a bit for me to feel on point. 250lbs to start and it felt ok. Not great but a lot better than how the first rep with 240lbs felt that last time. 5lbs added on and it went up better than 250lbs. 260lbs went up much the same. 265lbs felt a little slower but I think I compensated for that with 270lbs and that went up faster. This was neat little boost. I don’t know if I’ll do the 5lbs increase every time. Will be on the fly if programmed. I know that my overhead lifting needs to keep improving so I can have that strength surplus when things end up crap at a contest. Band assisted pull-ups after that. Working up to a top set of 5 reps and continuing to make this tougher each week. I have two more notches available for the band assistance before no bands so I got another two sessions before going no bands for the top set. As I mentioned last time, I kind of rushed things a bit as I had come from the one gym and then back home with some rain. This time no such issue and I was able to have the bands be adjusted in a way that there was a progression where things did feel a decent bit easier at the start and hopefully not too fatiguing going into the top set. My lower lat and intercostals on the right side were feeling tight and that seemed to have popped up in the middle of the rack work for axle. It has been a while since I’ve had this act up on me but I know it will go away and I’ve been able to tough out sessions with it before. I was a little cautious on these to make sure that everything was feeling ok in that area though. There were thankfully no issues here. It is quite noticeable the increase in difficulty from just a few sessions prior as the band assistance drops further each time. Then incline log pressing with bands. This had been switched last time to being just one top set of 6-8 reps. I had been leery about this last time but the session had gone well so I was back on board. I was a little surprised that the suggested increase was 10lbs more but I went with it. Warming up felt odd. I was making sure the tightness in the lower lat and intercoastal was not going to be a problem bracing here. I ended up smacking my chin on one of the earlier warm ups. As I got to the last working up set, I realized the weights didn’t look right as it was too much and I had to figure out where my math went wrong. I apparently made the mistake on the first weight jump (which may explain the chin smack). I had to adjust the weight here so that the jump from this to the top set of 217lbs was reasonable. Things actually went pretty well here. I was surprised when I had a little hiccup on the fourth rep and had to rebrace and catch my breath that I was able to keep going. I had told myself that if the 6th rep didn’t feel explosive that I’d stop there but it felt good and I was able to get 8 reps again. It is nice when the changes seem to fix the issue and have you feel strong and not spinning in place. Finishing up with holds/hangs. Continuing to be 20 seconds with the extra time and 5lbs added if I succeed. Both of these felt pretty comfortable (relatively). Chin up holds are definitely tougher still than the active shoulder hangs. I can definitely see the chin up holds sticking around and keeping up with more and more weight but I do wonder if there is an endgame with the active shoulder hangs as that is almost double the weight right now. But both seem to be progressing steadily and no worse for wear. Put away stuff and cleaned up fallen branches from the wind before eating a late lunch and then stretching.

October 16, 2024 – Week 19, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
265x2
300x2
335x2

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+95x24 seconds

Planks
bw+81x60 seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Going into this session with low expectations. I had kind of already told myself due to the low energy I was feeling from two weeks prior which came to a head on the deadlift session last week that I’d probably do the “light version” of this session. This hope was before I did the Day 3 workout last week and I was still feeling a bit rough. But surprisingly I felt decent Day 1 this week (and I was feeling quite beat and stiff on Sunday just walking) so I was somewhat hopeful that I was back on track. However, something in the right lower lat/intercoastal area was really stiff and tender. I’ve had that happen before but it has been a few years. I was able to finish the workout fine and thankfully it was not so uncomfortable that it disrupted sleep. But I was still feeling it in some capacity Tuesday (a little better) and today (a little better than Tuesday). My folks joked that this was from me slanging around weights like I did Monday at my age. Soft tissue work did feel good but not quite 100%. I was a bit worried about this possibly being an issue for Day 3 this week rather than today as I already had delegated this to be a light session and that hopefully just moving around wouldn’t make things linger. Warming up felt fine and happy about that as didn’t want to have any issues here. Then on to the actual training, front squats with chains. Options were to work up to a top double (5-10lbs more than what I did last time) or the back up plan of lighter for 2x5 with 185-225lbs. I had things planned out for either option here. Maybe the backing off on stuff or the rest or maybe giving myself the out here helped. My knees were feeling good and the discomfort I was expecting from the lat/intercoastal never came and I figured maybe I should go heavy today. Perhaps I was bracing better because I knew I had to for the sake of the session. But again, made sure I was taking each set as it came. If I was doing the 2x5, I was going to do 225lbs. The set before that weight I didn’t have a good time as the strap on the right side somehow flipped around as I unracked the weight and hit me in the eye and my soft belt popped off in the hole on the first rep. Despite that, it moved pretty well. With 225lbs I just didn’t feel like doing more than two reps here so I guess going heavy. I did deviate from the suggested here as I felt modifying the jumps made more sense. What was suggested was to do 275lbs, 315lbs and then 335lbs. I felt the top end grouping would be a bit much considering how last time 325lbs felt like a max double. So I was looking at 265lbs, 305lbs and then 330lbs. Having the hard belt felt good here but I got worried as walking back my knees locked and it didn’t feel that great so I was a little hesitant. Also needing to make sure I get my breathing right. With that, I decided to do the next double at 300lbs instead just to give myself the best chance here. And that set felt good (other than getting my breathing right) and I knew that I was on form this week vs last time. I don’t know why but it does seem like every other session I feel very powerful vs feeling heavy. I felt confident enough to go to 335lbs here. I was pretty anxious but that does serve me well on these kind of lifts. I made sure that I took solid breaths for bracing and I crushed it. I’m curious how this will progress from here. Took a little bit to get myself to come back down so I used that time to get dinner mostly prepped before moving on to the rest of the workout. As per usual, warming up for back extension holds with reps. 20 reps again. I can’t say for certain if these felt better or the same as last time. I was figuring this might put a strain on the lat/intercoastal area but seemed to be ok. Took a little break here too to get some more dinner prep done and then back to do the hold. Like the chin up and active shoulder hang, continuing to be 20 seconds (leaving a few seconds in the tank). Neck harness weight has stayed the same for the time being. And I think that is fine as is as it is a good chunk of weight to hold up like that. Still adding to the weight held in hand. This felt tough again to get things off the floor to start so I had to take a few moments to get everything tight before giving it my best effort. This was definitely tough and certainly felt like the closest I’ve come to not meeting the time limit. At least that would be the case if I did 20 seconds. I somehow screwed up my counting tempo. Maybe I was worried that I was trying to call it early. After the fact, it became clear reviewing the video that I did 24 seconds instead of 20 seconds. So I was fine. I guess I’m just doing more than expected today. I guess continuing with that theme I decided to up the weight on planks. I know I said last time that I saw no real reason to go heavier. Well I decided I would because I didn’t like how the solid plate weight in the backpack felt and figured I’d just go up in weight with another chain. That weight should distribute better and it did. Even with sore lower lat/intercoastal I was able to hold this fine and breath braced comfortably. Then side planks. Sticking with 15lbs since I did that last time. I do feel like the right side was pretty good braced breathing wise whereas the left side is still a work in progress but getting better. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching. Hopefully I can tough out the rest of this week.

October 19, 2024 – Week 19, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk (turf)
100x60’
150x60’
200x60’
250x60’
300x60’ in 11.60 seconds

Sandbag Carry/Load Runs
200x30’/48”/30’
250x30’/48”/30’
300x30’/48”/30’

Sled Drags
35x100’
135x100’
(60 seconds rest)
210x100’
210x100’
210x100’
210x100’
210x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: Work continues to be dumb and I don’t really see that changing anytime soon. I did feel that I got my sleeping a bit more under control with the day off Monday this week and being able to sleep in on the three day weekend. I was still a little anxious about the lat/intercoastal tightness but nothing so far had exacerbated it. But I felt like the things for this session may be the thing though. With sleep and recovery I think on point, I decided to get up at the hour earlier than work time. Especially since once again coming up on the one day I have to go into the office for nonsense, I should probably not have that be a foreign sensation. But despite my best efforts, I was still tired. Probably allergies waking me up earlier too. I ended up sleeping in a little bit but still out the door by 9:00AM. There could be traffic issues going out next time but I guess closer to the gym than at my place. I was surprised that there were only two people there when I got to the gym and one was about to leave. Only some lights on and no music playing. But then people started coming in as I was warming up for the session. A lady with green hair (I think she came to do a workout with a trainer) said she liked my hair. Joints and everything seemed to be just fine going into the session. I am eager to do something with how long this prep is but nothing after this show is looking any good to me and any I’m entertaining are just hypotheticals if nothing good comes along or I have no choice if I want to do more than one show this coming year. The promoter for this show has everyone signed up so far in a group chat and it can be a lot some days. Like today where they sent a poll asking about the deadlift weights. Whatever, time to train. Farmer’s walk this week. This I guess is the “lighter” session but really it isn’t that light. Plan was to work up to contest weight in 50lbs jumps. I had indicated that it made sense to be doing contest length runs on my “lighter” weeks for yoke and farmer’s as I have tended to taper off near the end on runs so need to get used to finishing strong and longer distance. I had also done some more research on the venue and gym equipment and I had initially thought that the farmer’s handles would be similar to the ones I was using but those may be another promoter’s and what may be available for this show is the Titan Fitness handles. I don’t like those. They don’t feel solid and the handles are a little thicker (plus have knurling in the middle and then smooth steel where I grip). So I figured that I better get used to those handles. This session did not do anything for me in liking them any better I’m afraid. First two runs I felt like I was able to go fast and be in control. 200lbs the pick was feeling a little slow but still ok. There was some downtime before 250lbs as I swapped out weights. I was kind of second guessing myself here as this felt substantial and I had to check afterwards that I didn’t screw up the math. I think it is just how these handles feel/sit in my hands. I’ve actually not used more than 285lbs on these kind of handles for a farmer’s walk (holds and deadlifts another story). I’m not sure what happened before this contest run but I guess my nerves and something digesting in my gut didn’t agree with me. I didn’t feel sick but I got a gag reflex going and ended up dry heaving three times. So eyes were watery for a bit and I had to take a little longer rest to make sure that that didn’t happen again. I got set and went for it. The pick a little slow but not so much so that I felt like I was grinding forever like the last two sessions. Also no hamstring peeps. I felt like I was moving well but I just never felt comfortable to where I could move into another gear beyond the one I was in. Maybe the handles. But in either case, I did finish under 12 seconds which was the hope here for contest weight. I’m not sure what the progression from here is going to be but I feel like this “light” session should be more like a heavy session really so that I can hopefully recover better for deadlift that is not yet at contest weight. I need to get myself to feel comfortable with these handles and get into the second gear I know I’m capable of on this event. After that and putting stuff away, I tried to get myself to calm down and not be so high strung. Can’t be retching during the workout. If I puke, the day is done. I thankfully did not have that occur again but I did end up needing to use the restroom. I rarely need to during a training session. Perhaps I was having issues with dinner last night going down quietly. Next was the sandbag event for the show. Pick up sandbag and carry it 30’ to load over 48” yoke and then repick the sandbag and carry another 30’ to finish. I figured I’d hopefully have some improvements from last time as issues with mobility were assuaged. I know that I will take hits on static events at this show and those are events where ties can happen. Not so much with the moving events and a tenth a second could mean points here. I was trying to be nonchalant here so calm myself and then just get a little serious when it was time to go and do the thing. So I gave tips to people training and first aid stuff to another person. I could tell things were going swell here from the very first run as I didn’t seem to have issues fiddling around with the second pick. I had watched a video about faster picks with packing the one side of the sandbag for easier gripping. Also thinking about if it made sense to start behind or get a little more distance from the side. I think not having maxed out the farmer’s pick like last time helped with picks not feeling so darn arduous. I felt I was moving better at least on the second pick and run compared to last time. With the contest weight run, I switched out a fresh shirt and chalked up. I felt quicker off the block but I guess I was holding the bag a little lower than last time so when it came time to shove it over, I didn’t get as much distance. It was close to being in the yoke space so I hesitated for split second before just plowing on ahead. Second pick was a ton better than it was last time. Humped the bag at the end of the run just for my own amusement. Still not timing and doing competitor commands but I’m fairly certain this was almost 2 seconds faster. Another little break putting stuff away before heading out side for sled drags to end the day. Focus on speed now but still the 5 sets of 100’ with a minute rest. 200lbs last time so going up 10lbs this time. Can’t really go full bore on the lighter stuff warming up as can fall on my rear if not careful so just more controlled stuff. These were quite comfortable. I had moved where I started up a little bit since the garage door was closed. Recovery here was really good as I was actually able to have the last run be my fastest this time. I’ll likely need to be using less weight for the pushes with the yoke on turf to be similar in it being speed thing as now it is just tough it out. Stuck around to stretch after drinking a shake. I feel like I can really focus on stretching with specific things rather than making do with what is at home and playing something on the tv for white noise. Drive back was bit obnoxious with traffic issues. Filled up the car since I got to go into to the office next week. Hopefully I can keep recover good going forward.

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.

September 29, 2024 - October 5, 2024 - Week 17

 September 30, 2024 – Week 17, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Push Press (one clean)
50x5
80x3
110x2
140x2
170x1
200x1
220x1
240x1

Axle Push Presses (EMOM)
240x1
240x1
240x1
240x1
240x1

Band Assisted Pull-ups
sbx5 at pin 21
abx5 at pin 21
lbx5 at pin 21

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

Chin Up Holds
bw+30x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+55x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: It has been raining for over a week straight at this point. Not generally heavy and there are periods were it has stopped for a little bit. Mostly light rain. But it has been a long period of continuous rain. It has been light enough that it hasn’t stopped me from doing my walks which I feel I need to keep up with so that everything is feeling good and not tight. My right knee was feeling stiff from the heavy yoke work. My lower legs were working hard and them being fatigued means they are tight and make the knees tight. I was kind of expecting that. Bodyweight back under 275lbs which is generally a good weight for me. So less than 10lbs to get to 265lbs if needed and making it gradual. I got to 255lbs gradually so not going to force things. Other stuff was also feeling beat and sore from Saturday. Bit ole friction burn on my left trap from the yoke and my left forearm was quite sore from the effort needed to pick up the 325lbs sandbag. I may need to implement it more this training prep after I figure out how doing “just” contest weight works out. I’ve been generally good with not having miserable weather when I have to train outside for overhead work and even when it has been, usually it is something that I can still do safely. This was not the case and there wasn’t a guarantee that the rain would let up so I was debating waiting until the next day (not able to confirm weather wouldn’t still be raining) and remembered I could go to the one local gym for a drop-in so that ended up being the case. I’ve not been there in like at least 9 months so some changes. It is a bit cramped and I was stressed with the number of people there and finding place to do my warming up. I realized that the setup here wasn’t ideal for pretty much anything after the main thing I needed to do here and figured if it stopped raining I’d go home to finish up. Warming up stuff felt mostly decent. Knees were aching more than I’d like. Shoulders still feeling achy but maybe better. Axle to start things off. Clean and press. Which was why I didn’t want to test this out in the rain. Knowing my gangly uncoordinated self that I could end up with an injury. I actually brought my own axle and collars to the gym so that I was still using my stuff. It was a good call as someone at the gym ended up using the axle there for deadlifting. I was not sure how things were going to go. My knees had felt like crap on the log push pressing last week and I wasn’t sure if things were fully recovered from how exhausted and burnt I was feeling two week’s prior. It has been like four months since I’ve done the clean motion with an axle. Left forearm sore and just hoping nothing was aching and hurting. Other than my right knee being stiff it was good. The volume has been reduced a good bit on overhead stuff to hopefully help with recovery and have me feeling good and fresh. Plan here working up to 240lbs for a single and have it feel easy. Again, besides the knee, I was feeling myself here. I felt powerful and like 300lbs would’ve gone up. That was not the end of the axle stuff. Now since not at home, I couldn’t just put the weights on the rack in front of me to do rack work. The power rack was on the other side of the gym so had to strip all the weights off and load up the axle there. So I knew that the first set would be a little off from setting up and such. But even when I do that at home it seems the case first set out of the rack feels a little off and stiff. This was to be 5 singles with the same weight out of the rack done EMOM style. I was a little nervous here with having people around as I was needing a space for a bit and I kept thinking on the triceps struggle I had the last time. As expected, the first rep went out in front a lot but I didn’t have that issue with the reps after that. Just my right knee being unhappy with things. Watching the video back, these all looked quite powerful. I’m definitely getting my hip drive and my shoulders/triceps are firing in concert with my mobility movement in the press. So this seems to bode well as a good sign for the change. It also has me appreciating the chain work I was doing as that stuff was a lot tougher and I think it would still be beneficial to have that be used in the future for offseason work again and even for blocks in building up on this movement for longer prep again. Hell, I wouldn’t mind doing the chain variation as my rack work after the clean and press stuff. At this point, I packed things up and drove home to finish up the workout. Not ideal with it being as late as it was but it’s what I was going to do. The axle had gone well so I was in a good mood I guess. Band assisted pull-ups after that. Plan was to work up to a set of 5 reps that was tougher than the last time I did them. So drop in volume and not as many reps here. It sounds like the goal is to keep lowering until no bands at all. I know I can do bodyweight pull ups but not exactly guaranteed to be pulling as explosively or getting as much above the bar so still worth my time to go up a little each session. Ideally, I’d adjust the settings with the height of the bands and the band tension so that it would be easy and build up to the working set. But I was like an hour behind schedule from having to drive out to a gym during rush hour and tear down and drive back. So I was trying to just move things along as quickly as I could and get to the eating and stretching part. So I did what I’ve been doing with just keeping the same pin height for all the sets and swapping out the bands. I was a little cautious here because of the sore forearms and trying to keep the bar dry. I think I was also keeping my legs more tucked/bent as I usually let them extend a little to keep some band assistance going throughout the movement but now at a height where I can come off the band at the top regardless of the band tension. So that is where adjusting the height probably makes more sense going forward for the warming up. But top set was fine and strong. Then incline log pressing. I was leery about this after the missed rep last time (and having to roll it off my body and all that jazz). Weight was reduced and keeping the bands but just one top set of 6-8 reps. 207lbs was the suggested which should be safe in that I’ve done 20lbs more for 5 reps with this setup. First set did feel a little like last time but got better as I went. I knew I was better rested as I was able to have some pep and excitement going into the top set here. Told myself if it felt crap and I was slowing down a lot I’d stop at 6 reps but felt powerful and strong so did 8 reps here. So that went well. 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. I was successful with that last time so 5lbs more this time. The rain had picked up again. I wasn’t too concerned here as it was just 20 seconds holds here and it wouldn’t really be my grip having an issue. There was uncertainty with the chin up hold with the sore forearms. But this actually felt stronger than last time so that was good. The active hang actually did feel tougher than last time by a good bit but still managing to do the time no problem. Put stuff away before eating dinner and stretched afterwards. Hopefully this trend continues. And this rain chills out.

October 2, 2024 – Week 17, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
275x2
325x2

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+90x20 seconds

Planks
bw+75x60 seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Still raining. Again, I guess it is a good thing it has just been light rain for all this time otherwise there would be issues with flooding here. It has been over 13yrs since there was last flooding severe enough in the area to need federal assistance involved. Light enough to be able to go for a walk in at times and just has everything feeling deary with the cloud cover. Work has been thankfully not stressful this week but I know it will pick up again in due time like it always does. Keeping an eye on the right knee. Raining so much that my garage lights won’t turn on. The electrical situation there isn’t the best and it is hard to get the lights to come on after it rains. So it just meant having a little bit darker of an environment for training today. I felt ok with warming up. Joints not feeling 100% but I can tell that my right shoulder is feeling better and starting to recover from how it was feeling a few weeks prior when having to reduce workload there. Front squats with chains for the start of the session. Dropping down to just a top double working up in doubles. Still with 5-10lbs more than what I did last time and the back up plan of lighter for 2x5 as the plan it seems. Back off would only be if I was feeling terrible and needing to shut things down because I’m cooked. It wouldn’t be because I was feeling beat as I was feeling pretty good but it would be a different matter if the right knee was not feeling so hot warming up. I was very cautious with the unracking of weight to make sure knees were feeling ok. I know the right knee is feeling off slightly in the mechanical sense because of the added stress from over 800lbs yoke walks and doing push pressing three weeks in a row. I know that it will calm down once adjusted to the new normal and having some wave loading of some stressors. Just have to keep an eye on things, do what I can to get things feeling good and be patient/tough it out. I was feeling pretty good initially with warming up. After the initial warming up going with 40-50lbs jumps here. But at some point it started to feel heavier than I’d have liked it to feel. Going into this from how last time these went (I had been a bit stressed at the time) I was figuring doing 10lbs more than what I did for doubles last time would be no big deal. It does seem though that when stuff is changed on this (like the reps decreased or sets decreased) that it seems to end up a tougher session than expected. Might be I expect it to be easier because of the reduction in some capacity. I was not planning for the sets to be this challenging working up. 225lbs and above felt like they were 30lbs or more than they actually were if I had to quantify it. 275lbs that first rep felt about right but then the second rep was a bit of struggle as I think I didn’t rebrace and took my foot off the gas a little prematurely. But I knew I had this top double because of the work I did last time and that I’ve had a worse feeling penultimate set and have it go ok on the working weight. I knew I was going to need to break up the reps on this double with rebracing breath with how I was feeling/doing today on these. This felt heavy but I didn’t let that get in my head as I know that that doesn’t mean I can’t move it. That first rep went well enough. Even with taking a breath to rebrace for the second set I had issues keeping it and felt myself lose it, making for a much tougher second rep. At this weight, I may need to consider outside lifting for this going forward. Assuming it isn’t raining like it has. See how I feel for next time but may need to plan on just the 5lbs increase next time. Slight break before moving on to the core work stuff. As per usual, warming up for back extension holds with reps. 20 reps again. These were feeling a little more challenging than they had last time. Not to the point where I was feeling the burn or fatigue but more so than just the easy going feeling these were last time. I think I stretched out the break a bit here from doing front squats and then doing these before then doing the hold itself to try and give myself time to recover. For the hold, still 20 seconds being the max time before stopping (leaving a few seconds in the tank). Neck harness weight the same at 25lbs. Finally at 90lbs so can hold two 45’s on these. This actually felt easier to get started and into position compared to the last two times I’ve done these. Felt challenging to hold but once I got near the 20 seconds time I felt like I got a second wind and could’ve gone more than a handful of seconds longer. These have been a good builder for me with the back side of the body and getting used to tolerating the strain/load of heavy pulls. On to the planks. I really see no reason to go beyond 75lbs on the standard plank at this point. Maybe I’ll go heavier if I feel like it. But same weight for this session. It was a good call as these were feeling challenging today with holding the brace. Perhaps that is why the front squats were also feeling harder. My braced breathing was good. Then side planks. I decided to do 15lbs for the hell of it. Not much difference between 10lbs and 15lbs kettlebell really. Also meant I didn’t need to get stuff from the sun room and could just do the garage. These went better than last time. The balance issue was almost nonexistent with the added weight compared to the past two sessions. A lot less shoulder ache in the right side compared to last time (which is good sign stuff is recovering). Braced breathing there is still a discrepancy between this variation and the prone style as well as between the right and left side. But both sides were greatly improved from the previous two times with weight added. These side planks felt strong compared to the prone style which leads me to think that area was what was fatigued somewhat this session. I wouldn’t think just a few singles of axle cleans would do that haha. Put stuff away and prepared dinner before stretching out.

October 5, 2024 – Week 17, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk
90x50’
140x50’
190x50’
240x50’
290x48’5” (dropped short)
340x50’ in 15.13 seconds

Sandbag Carry/Load Runs
200x30’/48”/30’
200x30’/48”/30’
250x30’/48”/30’
300x30’/48”/30’

Sled Drags
35x100’
125x100’
(60 seconds rest)
200x100’
200x100’
200x100’
200x100’
200x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: It finally stopped raining here Thursday. But of course that meant that everyone in the state had to go and mow their lawns immediately so allergies were pretty bad. It was actually pleasant outside for Thursday and Friday with walking. Right knee is stiff at times. I figured it made sense to continue to wake up early for training so that I had time in the afternoon to do stuff. Especially since plan was to do a family thing earlier in the evening today. Slept in a little bit but still out the door by 9:00AM. Drive out was fine. It seems to be much smoother drive when I get out there and hour earlier. I was expecting to see people there when I got to the gym but there was just about no body there. Only one person for strongman stuff and they left before I had finished up warming up. And only had another person come in to do strongman after that (another did show up when I was finishing the session). Oh well. Warming up was ok. Usually my right knee is the only knee that is acting up on me but today the left one was feeling it a good bit. More so than the right. Wasn’t sure what to make of that. Right shoulder didn’t seem to have any issues so it seems still recovering well there. First thing for the day was farmer’s walk. Again, plan was to do a top set of 50’ with 50lbs jumps working. I was advise to try and go a little more than last time. I had said I felt like 340lbs was probably my limit on the day so I guess this was put my money where my mouth is. I had decided after that last session that I wasn’t going to do anything above contest weight on the farmer’s walk on turf for the rest of the cycle. I can’t insure that I can control the drop with the max being pushed and not damage the turf. I the drop height for say yoke is substantially a shorter distance and generally even. So on concrete for this. This wasn’t going to really do anything for the pick but there would be less resistance to push against so I should be able to go faster vs turf. Still going to do turf for contest weight and below runs for contest distance. Warming up here wasn’t going so bad I think. I felt that I was moving good and pick was feeling fine. 240lbs the pick did feel tougher than I would’ve liked but didn’t think anything of it. 290lbs I made mistakes. This entire prep so far with farmer’s walk, I’ve been doing no chalk accept for the top sets or the working sets (when doing the casual walks). And that bit me in the rear here. I was a little slow off the start as I felt my right hamstring get tight. And I just couldn’t keep a hold of things. I’ve been noticing that my forearms been feeling a little beat lately. I hadn’t even considered that I’d drop this weight without chalk. Went to my finger tips and I thought I could just eek this out. Nope, ended up losing it about 1 and half shy of 50’. I was annoyed with myself but also worried. Not exactly a confidence booster to drop 50lbs less than I was planning to do. I was all kinds of nervous. Initially told myself no pressure and not to worry about getting time or commands as I was worried I’d not get the full run or that I’d tear something just picking this up. But eventually I talked myself into getting someone to give commands and time so pressure was on. I knew this was going to suck on the pick and assuming I survived that, I would move and hopefully not be so drained from the strain to finish the course. And my lord was it a strain. This was definitely one of the slower picks I’ve done. To be fair, this is the most weight now that I’ve lifted from this height since the back injury in 2016 and only 10lbs off that weight. Nothing torn and I was off. I felt I had it after taking a few steps but you never know. It was in my finger tips by the end but I did it. I knew I had this in me from past trainings but actually doing it is another thing. I don’t feel like this needs to be pushed further without getting a little more rest/recovery between the heavier sessions. Especially after dropping 290lbs. But I’ll remember going forward to apply some kind of chalk with weights above 280lbs going forward if working up weights for full distance runs. I had to take a bit to cool off and have my hamstrings calm down. However, assisting with putting away weights for someone else unfortunately led to me bleeding. Somehow got the skin of my left thumb pinched between plates and that bleed like a stuck pig. I didn’t notice I was bleeding until I noticed that there was “wetness” on the object I was handling. So had to take some blood time and disinfect and bandage up the thumb. It will be fine. I just don’t recall ever having that much blood from getting pinched by plates. Next was sandbag work. This has been modified the most from what I was doing. Had been tow sessions with it being loads one week and max distance carry the next. Initially, this was going to be just a long carry into a load and do two sets. However, I felt that I needed to work on the transitions more vs the carry and load part. I’ve been doing that stuff for a good while now. The event for the show is pick up sandbag and carry it 30’ to load over 48” yoke and then repick the sandbag and carry another 30’ to finish. So pick, carry, load, pick, carry sequence. Half of the popular sandbag steeplechase thing. Been wanting to see if the theory works in practice as I’ve been seeing people training for this and I have my thoughts on things but have to see if I can make the body do the thing I need it to do. So rather than the long carry into load, I was told to work up to one set of the contest run. I needed to see how quick I could be with the transitions and see if I could even get under the yoke on the fly with the confined space. I wasn’t sure if my soft belt and knee sleeves would restrict me too much so I wore those for all sets. I was told to not time these for now. I was slow that first set. I started lighter than planned to make sure that my hamstrings were ok and I wasn’t going to have an issue. The repick part I had a little bit of a flub due to the stupid strap on the one side of the 200lbs bag. The second run felt better so I felt comfortable going up in weight. That felt fine. I was going to be tricky with the 300lbs bag as that wasn’t as compact as the bags I used warming up. I changed out my shirt for fresh one here with a decal and chalked up. And then went at it. Moving about as good as can do here. The picks are slow and taking a bit out of me. Especially having to start bag as is and picking where it lies the second pick. Bag is too heavy to really toss out from myself and then try and go under in quick succession and I seem to have better effort with resting the bag on the yoke briefly to then be able to shove it with force for some distance away from the yoke. There was hesitancy with the second pick having to go wider stance. The pick part of things I can see where the 325lbs bag as overload to build up that “reserve strength” would be helpful but I won’t bother with that for a bit as I get more familiar with things in other sessions. Sled drags to end the day. I took my time with putting stuff away so I could get a bit of fluids in me. Weight dropped a good bit here as the idea being to still do the 5 sets of 100’ with a minute rest but trying to go fast. So instructed to do only 200lbs. I couldn’t really go full speed working up as I was worried that I’d trip or fall over with there not really being much weight to counterbalance. This was quite easy and think the last set and first set were my fastest sets here. Put stuff away and slammed a shake and decided to stick around to stretch out before driving home to clean up.

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.