November 10, 2024 - November 16, 2024 - Week 23

 November 11, 2024 – Week 23, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Strict Presses w/ Bands (+14lbs/+22llbs)
No Bands
87x5
Add Bands
90x3
120x2
150x2
180x2
210x2

Paused Chest Supported Barbell Rows
65x5
115x5
165x5
215x5
Added Straps, 2 seconds holds
265x5
265x5

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

Band Face Pulls
abx20
abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: It was good that I could come back from taking a little more than a week off from training and not miss a step. But that comes at a cost I could tell it was going to be present even during the training session. I was feeling immediate soreness so expecting soreness in the muscles to continue from that. I could identify it being the case for my hamstrings, upper and lower back and also biceps. Weight up about 1.5lbs but that was kind of expected considering being off schedule and pretty much eating whatever when I could. Pretty much everything I ate was at a restaurant and brought home from a restaurant. Also not quite used to the DLS switch. I think it was good thing that I only worked two days this past week and then 3 days to recover and then back for 4 days. I feel I overcompensated Sunday and Monday as far as getting sleep on schedule. It could also be the time zone shifts as I’m realizing that this is the first time since 2017 that I’ve been outside of EST and I couldn’t really gauge how that recovery went since I got the flu and was pretty much not working for like a week. But thankfully it just seems to be when I feel like sleeping and waking up and not a determinantal decline in quality of sleep. Falling asleep late and waking up late put a bit of squeeze on my time availability for today. But it should work out for me. Warm but not training so early in the day that I’d have to wear sunglasses doing overhead training. It will be quite dark when I’m training outside next week after work. Had to clean up some leaves in the back area not so much because there were leaves but because it had rained and there wet spots that wouldn’t dry being covered with leaves. Warming up for training was fine. Stuff was feeling achy and stiff and not just joints. But moving around and doing the warming up and mobility stuff felt good. Starting things off with log strict press style with bands. In that last stretch of training with 10 weeks until competition. So some things are going to be pulled back as this starts that peak. Which is to be expected as need to save the energy for what needs to be ready for the competition. So one of those causalities of necessity was the log strict pressing. Instead of 5x2, it was working up to a top double with was to be 5lbs more than the working weight for last time. Something that should be no problem and this likely being the way forward on this from here with 5lbs increases. 30lbs jumps worked nicely here. Just adding support gear as I worked up. Mobility was feeling fine and nothing was feeling off. I was kind of surprised how loose my shoulders were feeling compared to sometimes when they feel tight. One set does mean I have just the one shot to having things go right and not be able to get crisper and better as I go. This was decent and went up well enough. From there moving on to chest supported barbell rows with pauses. This was not changed from how it has been for a bit now so again, 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’ve generally been skipping the lightest warm up set but felt like maybe I should do it this time considering my upper back and biceps were feeling quite sore. Maybe this will be less a shock working doing that. Weights were moving well but it was feeling substantially heavier in my hands to what I’d expect it to usually feel. 50lbs jumps on these. I think if I had to do the longer holds/pauses working up that I’d definitely not be able to put in a solid effort on the top sets. Straps added for the working sets where I was doing the actual solid holds. This was definitely the hardest I think these have felt on these with the working set. I may consider the dropping down this time or next but really have to play it by ear because my upper back can be fickle at times and then just decide that it will crush any weight I try at others. So next was benching. Chains and 2x5. This did have some changes to it. Seeing as how the adjustments to the incline log press for last time (hover pauses) helped with getting my chest recruitment and more stable shoulder, that it would make sense to do that here on this variation. This had already been adjusted to being a lighter speed focused endeavor so the weight only got dropped a little unlike with the incline log. Still getting some shoulder aches in the right side but was feeling better compared to last time. Wore wrist wraps so that I felt like I was taking this seriously but also for some additional support because my wrists were a little sore from sandbag work Saturday (potentially the “shove” portion). These felt decent. I ended up having to reset my bracing before doing the second set as I lost some tightness adjusting the bar placement. At this point, I was getting my meals ready to eat after training (since I got up late, merging all them besides dinner and evening as one) and getting setup for the last thing. Last thing being face pulls with bands to finish up. 2 sets of 15-20 reps with a medium band. I went outside to do these since I feel like I’m only going to get some much sunlight after work for the next few months. Even if feeling good, I didn’t want to up band tension with my sore biceps as could be an issue. Some times it feels like I’m just doing the motion and others where I’m dictating the motion and how the shoulders move. First set I felt good and felt like maybe I could get a little more tension for the second set. I wasn’t feeling quite right and tried to adjust things after few reps but that made things a little too easy and then had to regrip to get things challenging again. Put stuff away and got to work on getting some calories in.

November 13, 2024 – Week 23, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

13” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts (straps, touch and go)

135x5
225x3
315x2
405x1
495x1
550x1
607x1

Step Ups (18”)
bwx10 L
bwx10 R
bw+25’sx10 L
bw+25’sx10 R

Wall Sits
bwx60 seconds

Crunches
bw+50x35

Paused Hanging Knee Raises (1 second)
bw+20x27

Stretching
 
Comments: I’m having a hard go of it with adjusting to the hour shift it seems. I felt I was I guess when I was not having anything scheduled and then when I didn’t have to do any training after work until this workout really. It has been a struggle to stay motivated with work as there is just so much of it and just getting hounded with no real help available (despite it being offered). I’m definitely feeling the effects of hard training after taking a little time off with soreness from being a little detrained. My right side neck tensed up like something was pinched in the nerves so that was mildly unpleasant for about a day and a half (thankfully feeling better). It was fairly warm when I came back to PA from AZ last week. It was actually warmer here than it was out there. But now fall weather has decided to show up again and it is staying pretty cold. Not so cold that I need warm ups to get ready in the garage. I can make myself warm from just moving around and lifting and being the human space heater I am. Warming up was ok. Noticed my right shoulder was tight (expected after neck tensed up). Nothing feeling terribly achy so that was good. At least initially. Right knee has a slight ache but ok. Left knee was feeling a little dull ache but not in the usual way. But both things seemed to go away once I got ready to actually train. Then for the wagon wheel. I had been anxious last time. I wasn’t feeling that anxiety this time with the plan here for a conservate single. Volume was reduced working up so there was less fatigue working up. Plan was 10lbs more than the double I did. I mean, I should be good for that. Starting out, felt like my midsection and lower back were feeling a bit detrained and that just doing the first weight was making those areas work harder and feel strain more than usual. Working up in weight my lower back was feeling a little achy at the base of the spine. It is possible that this also has to do with it being colder and having to warm up. The first three plate jumps were the same as they have been. 405lbs was where things changed in that it was singles instead of doubles. So while no real touch and go for these, I still did controlled eccentrics as if I was going for another rep. These for some reason can feel slower and harder than they end up looking on video. Another plate jump with hard belt added. This was ok. I wasn’t feeling like my strongest today. Usually another big jump for the top set and hope that excitation from missing gets me pulling. But not quite as the jump would be too much this time around so split that difference for a small jump. I was kind of hoping that this smaller jump would instill confidence but it didn’t really. It felt pretty tough (didn’t look it). Perhaps because this is the first time I’ve tried to do over 500lbs here without getting hyped up. I was still feeling like this single had to happen with everything but I was less confident in how it would go which lead to me being getting nerves that possibly had me more ready to act and execute. It’s a fine line. But it wasn’t instantaneous to get maximum arousal for this. I was kind of hoping I didn’t need it to be honest. I decided to add 2lbs to the goal so that it would be 275kgs for something fun I guess. Trying to think kilograms for possible worlds comp. Slightly worried about stressing the hamstrings since they seemed to be sore from Saturday. Went for it and it seemed to move well enough but then I started to get that jackhammer shake going but I pulled through that midpoint to lockout. I’ve now done contest weight or more (axle doesn’t count since that’s for max) on all the events at this point. This is only the second time I’ve been able to do that in my strongman career with the first time being in 2022 for PA Dutch. I have 10 more weeks to build on from this point too. But it may be just keeping the train on the rails mostly until the destination is reached. This could very well be the heaviest I pull before the competition. Anyways, a little bit of a break here to put away the weights and get some fluids in. Setups again. Volume was reduced on these which was probably a good idea and a welcomed one. The reduction in reps for the first set with no weight felt really good. Could also be the rest as my knees felt pretty darn good and I felt so good that I did these back to back with no rest before taking the normal rest I do with the set with weights in hand. The left side does lag a little compared to the right but it felt like less of a gulf in ability this time around. I didn’t need a sweat towel like when it warmer but I was definitely worked hard and staying warm. Wall sits were next. Bodyweight and deeper squat style then I was doing when single leg. I went into these almost immediately after the step ups. 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. Felt a little tough at the start but then I felt fine and good for the duration. Core work after that. Weighted crunches. I stuck to what I did last time because of the little break and seeing as how my abs felt worked just doing the wagon wheel pulls. Breaking into chunks continues to be the winning method here. Hard to say if this was tougher or the same as last time. I was having my abs, neck and hamstrings trying to cramp up on me. I had tried to get through those exercises in quick succession before taking a break to get fluids and setup things for the last exercise for the evening.  Paused hanging knee raises to wrap things up. I was not expecting anything easy today. I was fully prepared to have it be a struggle to get 25 reps considering how my core was feeling today. But somehow things felt really good. Ended up adding another rep to these. Put stuff away before eating dinner and then stretching.

November 16, 2024 – Week 23, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Yoke
255x50’
355x50’
455x50’
555x50’
655x25’
755x25’
860x24’8”
 
Comments: This week didn’t end how I would’ve preferred. Work was very stressful and with the holidays coming up, the day in the office has been moved up to being a week early. I also may have contributed to some discomfort this week with a supplement. I had thought my diet was lacking in magnesium and that maybe that would help with the nervous energy and twitching/cramps. Turns out I was already getting enough from the protein powder I use and I was having gas. I also didn’t follow my rule of waiting until the weekend to try something new to my diet and supplements. But I felt confident with myself and rested I guess going out to train. I didn’t need to hit snooze and drive took slightly longer than I would’ve liked. When I got there, the vibe of the place just felt off. Like everyone that was there training just felt like they didn’t want to be there. The new throw tower setup already broke (as I suspected it would) but the it can still be setup in the interim until the new joint is replaced. The attitude I was sensing was making me also annoyed. I did my best to block that out during my warming up and mobility stuff. I was feeling good on this stuff. Yoke was really the only thing for today besides conditioning. Plan was again to give 855lbs for 50’ a shot. But on the concrete because the gym setup changed. Even if it hadn’t changed, I’d have probably moved this to concrete after failing at 50’ on turf. I was surprised that I was doing this again after the miss and also after the break. I was thinking this would be a lighter session. But trusting the process as it were. 100lbs jumps starting with the big yoke with a little weight on it and doing the 50’ run. Up to 555lbs that is. I was feeling a little slow but it didn’t really feel like last time in the sense it felt heavier than it should. But I was feeling lightheaded on the runs. I was having some stomach tightness and cramping. I had hoped the magnesium stuff had worked its way through overnight but I guess not entirely. I felt like I was moving well enough with the next two runs going 25’ but I still not feeling like 855lbs was a sure thing and that it was going to be tough. I added 5lbs just so that if it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen with a little more weight. I couldn’t seem to get myself amped up to that notch needed to be aroused for this and I told the people there that I didn’t want time or commands on this and I’d go at my own pace. I actually felt like I was going at a decent pace but I just couldn’t keep it together. I was starting to go dark in my vision and just put it down about halfway down the course. I had to catch myself to keep from going down. If I had pushed it any further, I’d have definitely been spasming and taken a knee. I felt good otherwise but it really just drained the joy and motivation out of me. Even though this is 160lbs over contest weight. I still don’t like failing at something that I should be able to do. This is like 90% of my best on this event. I took off the weights and proceeded to shove the empty big yoke back to the start. I was intending to use this as my pushing weight for the session but it felt heavier than I’d have liked it to and I could tell my motivation was just gone. I could feel my doubts and creeping in and the anxiety spiking as depression setting in. Just went home without stretching and at least made myself eat the planned meals. It shouldn’t bother me this much but just because I think and know it shouldn’t doesn’t mean I can stop it from paralyzing me with doubt and frustration. Kind of wished I had another 3 day weekend so I could hopefully work through this in peace and mentally be refreshed for another stupid week of work.

October 27, 2024 - November 9, 2024 - Week 21-22

 October 28, 2024 – Week 21, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Clean and Push Press (one clean)
30x10
60x5
90x3
120x2
150x2
180x1
210x1
240x1
270x1

Axle Push Presses (EMOM)
260x1
265x1
270x1
275x1
280x1

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

Paused 12” Log Incline Spoto Presses w/ Bands (+5lbs/+25lbs)
97x8
127x5
157x3
187x5
187x5

Chin Up Holds
bw+40x20 seconds+8 seconds eccentric

Active Shoulder Hangs
bw+65x20 seconds+10 seconds relaxed

Stretching
 
Comments: Still feeling a bit out of sorts from Saturday with how yoke went. It got me off my sleep a good bit and had to make up for it Sunday. Feeling achy in my joints. I think I just have to realize that I’ve not really had to “build up” yoke for the last few years and that really this was like expecting to be near my best when the most I’ve done had been 75% of my best last year and usually less than that. I just have to adjust things going forward if it is worth pushing that seeing as how no show at this point I have interest in (or can sign up) has a yoke over 750lbs. Other stuff needs more work that could use the energy like pressing and deadlifting. Bodyweight at 273lbs. I was kind of treating this week as a mandatory deload with the trip and stress that comes with it. Hope being survive this workout and hit the minimums for Day 1 session and then do the “lighter” option for my Day 2 session this week. Day 3 being then a week later. Don’t want to be dealing with trying to rush training here or setup stuff out there or try and rush things coming back after time zones, travel and the election. Not to mention work. I stopped over at my folks before training as I was told my sister and her family were visiting briefly (wasn’t sure why) but they weren’t there yet and I went back to my place to train. I already had moved things around and I was nervous about how this session would go seeing as how I was a bit mentally in a funk and feeling worn down a bit. Knees were quite achy warming up today. But I felt not in a way that would hamper overhead training. My nephews and mom came over briefly while I was doing warmups and then went back after I finished sweeping leaves off the porch to start lifting. Axle session. Again, plan here was to work up to a top single and then move on to rack work. Suggested was 10lbs more than last time. I did more reps warming up as I felt the knees kind of needed it. I could tell that I was not 100% as stuff was feeling a bit tougher. 30lbs jumps. I also made sure that I didn’t do the press right from the catch like last time. I knew that while it feels fun and powerful, this wasn’t a day for it as stuff was feeling like 20lbs-30lbs heavier than it should. At least on the clean to shoulders. Which if that is more effort and laborious, then it takes something out of the overhead. 240lbs felt like how 260lbs had felt last time, which isn’t great when got another 30lbs jump. My left hamstring felt like it wanted to cramp up on me so I was bit nervous. Hamstrings had been twitching during the day too. Power was not there this week as I wasn’t getting the same power and getting the weight as high up on the pull, which I think suggests lower back and hamstrings a bit cooked. 270lbs ended up a belt clean and it took a bit to recover from the catch and go for the press. The press part was at least feeling how it should but I was definitely having to take a little longer before initiating the press. I had it overhead for a beat before putting it down. Setup things for the rack work. Strip weight down and setup and put some weight back on the bar. 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. I had done a little sneaky sneak here with the option to add a little bit if I felt good whereas I did 5lbs added each rep. That had not been the case the first time I did this workout but it was last time and that ended up being pretty good. I had a feeling though that I’d be feeling a bit worn compared to last time since that was after doing speed yoke vs max effort yoke. But I left myself open to the option depending on how things went obviously. But starting at 260lbs. My thinking was that pressing was feeling strong and that I should be fine here. First rep I had to double take the dip as it felt off the first time. But it went up strong. So I said screw it, I guess I’m adding weight every rep. Second rep I had a little issue with walking the weight out. My left foot hit something weird. But regardless of that, still went up strong for the press. I felt I had no issues with technique walking out the weight or initiating the leg drive. So this was good. I’m at 90% of my goal here. 40lbs off my lifetime bests in training though. From there on to band assisted pull-ups after that. I was told to repeat what I did last time, which was fine by me. I mean initially, I was hoping to keep progressing and get to not band assistance quicker. But that was before I came into the workout feeling a certain way. My biceps were feeling a little sore from the extra effort needed on the axle cleans too. But hey, at least I wasn’t having that weird lower lat and intercostals thing going on. This seemed to be fine. Maybe a little better than last time. Or about the same. Just work at this time. I took a brief break here to head back over to try and see family again as I was told they were leaving in about 45 minutes. Apparently that was not correct and I missed them again. They were only here really to go see WWE anyways. I’ll be seeing them on the trip too. So back home again to do incline log pressing. Mr. Westerling indicated he didn’t like the lack of tightness. I tend to do two styles with the incline log. One is controlled with pauses and the other is essentially catapult. I’ve been doing the catapult style. Gets through he sticking point and feels less stress on the shoulders. But I guess not what needs to be the focus. So still doing these with bands. But adding in pausing to make sure I’m controlled and staying tight. Essentially doing Spoto style pressing. Probably closer even as one method calling it a “shirt press” in that just having it touch the shirt but not compressing the shirt. So a close to a touch as possible and holding. Back to doing 2 sets of 5 reps here. Certainly more shoulder stress but also a lot more pec stress, which is what was needed here. Need to get the chest awake to protect the shoulders. Finishing up with holds/hangs. Continuing to be 20 seconds with the extra time and 5lbs added if I succeed. Definitely felt like these were the toughest these both have been to hold to the times here. I was a little nervous with the chin up hold with the biceps being a bit sore but they were ok. I think this exercise is important for continued biceps health. The active shoulder hang is getting to the point where the decompression in the “relaxed” position is having the weights touch now. Like I said last time, I can definitely see the chin up holds sticking around but not sure with the active shoulder hangs. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

October 30, 2024 – Week 21, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Front Squats w/ Chains (+28lbs)
No Chains
45x5
Add Chains
45x5
95x3
135x3
185x2
225x2
265x2
305x2
345x2

Hyper Extensions
bwx20

Hyper Extension Holds (Neck Harness & Plate)
25+100x23 seconds

Planks
bw+81x60 seconds

Side Planks
bw+15x60/60 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I had every intention of this being a coasting workout and doing the light option. It made sense. My knees were feeling pretty darn stiff and it took a good bit of my walk before they started to feel fine the day before. I needed a lot of soft tissue work done Tuesday. Lower body but also a good bit for the chest as well. Work I got a slammed and I knew I’d likely spend most of the next day doing that stuff as my last day working this week until I get back. So I was fully accepting of doing an easy session and not feeling guilty about doing so. Warming up was telling me that was the best thing as my knees were feeling more stiff compared to Monday’s warming up and I was fighting back yawns warming up too. Then it was time for front squats with chains. As has been mentioned, the 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 was heavily leaning towards the 2x5 and possibly having it be at 185lbs. Just to get some movement and then get the other stuff done at the usual intensity. But I did decide to not completely shut the door on the heavy option because sometimes I feel terrible and I end up feeling pretty darn good. Strike while the iron is hot so to speak. Warming up I was feeling like the light option was the way to go. While unracking and walking out the weight felt fine, there were some aches in the knees (more so the right side) at the beginning. I do know that sometimes I feel better as I do more weight and reps. I was ready to do 185lbs for 2x5. Unrack felt good and the knee aches seemed a lot less so called it at a double and decided I’d go up to 225lbs. See if that felt any different. Unrack and walk out still felt good and the knee aches felt less. Screw it, I guess I’m going heavy today. I did modify the jumps here as I like to do similar jumps and it seemed to work out for me last time. So 40lbs jumps the rest of the way with planned top set of 345lbs. 265lbs with hard belt felt really strong. 305lbs didn’t feel bad unracking it but I know that I wasn’t quite full arousal/hype for this. Which is good as I shouldn’t need it to do this. But it did make that first rep feel a little tougher than I’d like but the second rep was fine. Even with that, I still felt confident in myself as I recall an even tougher double warming up (I think 275lbs) when I did 325lbs for a double so I should be good here for another 40lbs no problem. But didn’t want to rest on my laurels. This lift seems to be one that responds well for when I get anxious and use that in the lift. Also knowing that I can tap into that and feel it means I’m not completely fatigued and overworked. When I can’t seem to get that to switch on easy, I know that I’m needing some more recovery and rest. This didn’t feel that heavy unracking the weight and I was comfortable going for this lift. I made sure that I took solid breaths for bracing and I crushed it. I think that the second rep was even smoother. Getting close to my top double weight without chains. Used the time to calm down a bit and get some fluids in me before putting away some weights. I was actually a little apprehensive for the hyper holds this time around. I think that my posterior chain is more fatigued at the moment and having my hamstrings twitchy and wanting to cramp on Monday didn’t exactly full me with confidence. Especially since this was one of the exercises I had to modify or stop when I strained the right hamstring at the beginning of the year. But I seemed fine here and got one with it. As per usual, warming up for back extension holds with reps. 20 reps again. Well I think. I might have miscounted and did 1-3 more reps than that. Maybe. Which was fine I guess if I didn’t really notice. It is a good bit of weight I’m up to on these now going from nothing to everything on these. Still working the 20 second sweet spot. Neck harness weight has stayed the same for the time being (25lbs seems to be a fine weight on this) and going up 5lbs to what I’m holding to my chest. 100lbs so I can use the bumper plate so all “big” plates. This actually didn’t feel that bad getting up off the floor and into position but man being in position felt like a strain. I again somehow screwed up my counting tempo. Not sure why I’m either missing a count or slowing down my count as it has gotten tougher and heavier. But I guess I want to make sure that I truly did 20 seconds with some seconds left in the tank. I did not mean to do over 20 seconds again by that margin. I at least seem to be close with the upper body based holds/hangs that I’m not hand timing. Hamstrings were feeling a bit toasted after that so I didn’t rush getting myself ready for the planks to end the session. Took enough of a breather to get dinner a decent part of the way done and drink more fluids. Stuck to the same weights for planks. Regular style felt challenging and it was a little harder with the braced breathing I think compared to last time. This is truly the most I feel like doing on these with my backpack and chains. I think more weight would be a hassle just to get into position and I’m not sure if the backpack will hold up so good to that additional stress. Side planks I do kind of feel like I should go up in weight. However, there is still a disparity between the sides with the braced breathing. Holding on the right elbow is a lot more controlled and comfortable compared to the left side. It was still a good effort for that side but it wasn’t so good that I’d go up in weight. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out. One more day of work and then leaving on a jet plane.

November 9, 2024 – Week 22, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

Farmer’s Walk
100x60’
150x60’
200x60’
250x60’
300x60’ in 11.08 seconds

Sandbag Carry/Load Runs
200x30’/48”/30’
250x30’/48”/30’
300x30’/48”/30’ in 16.41 seconds

Sled Drags
35x125’
135x100’
(60 seconds rest)
225x100’
225x100’
225x100’
225x100’
225x100’

Stretching
 
Comments: Second time this year where I’ve taken a break from training because of a family vacation/trip. Unlike the beach trip in the summer, this was not a planned in advance thing. It kind of started with my older sister’s kids being off from school around the election and deciding to got out to visit my younger brother and his family in Arizona since usually only seem them in the flesh around the fall and winter holidays (if at all). But it became more of a full family visit to be with them as well as grieve with the passing of their third daughter earlier this year. Travel is stressful for me and it has been since 2017 that I’ve been on a plane. Last time coming back from Las Vegas and I had a sprained wrist and got the flu for the first time. As much as I enjoy myself, it is still stressful for me and I just kind of have to accept that when I’m not in control of things. I was hoping that this would give me a bit of deload with not worrying about training for a week and come back somewhat fresh for the last 12 weeks or so of this really long prep for competition. But I did have some aches and such that seemed to persist like my right knee and ankle that sleeping on air mattress or couch didn’t really help. Also with time changes and other stuff going on it was a stressful return. I’m still not quite used to the DLS shift as I tend to get up an hour early. But I do feel a lot more relaxed and some the aches have lessened since getting to sleep in my own bed again. But those aches did have me a little worried jumping right back into training. It was definitely a good idea to not try and do training out there (or rush it at home) and certainly not the day after I got back. I was feeling like training again by Friday. A little slow going with getting to bed and getting out the door in the morning. Partly because catching up on the Rogue Invitational. I actually made some really good time out to the gym. I wasn’t prepared for the gym changes. I had known they were remodeling which had been just painting and some new equipment. The big changes happened while I was away. The open turf area in the lifting area was gone and more machines and such. I was feeling the change aversion and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do my workouts how I liked them and that feeling almost had me leave and go home and do all my training out of my house. But I took some breaths and after talking with other people training, realized it wasn’t a big deal. I could tell warming up with the mobility stuff that some things were slightly detrained and stiff. Right knee still feeling a little ache but felt strong. The connector I was using for the iPod got pitched in the refurbishing (owners didn’t know someone actually used it) so was at the mercy of other people’s playlists or just dead silence. Setup today (and probably going forward) took a bit longer for stuff today. Because it had to. Farmer’s walk this week. Again, plan was to work up to contest weight in 50lbs jumps. I believe I had mentioned how I’m not to be doing these on turf going forward so has to be outside if I want a 60’ course. I guess uneven concrete is close enough to turf. I will at least still be able to do that for my “lighter” week runs with yoke (too much hassle for heavy week). I don’t like the Titan Fitness handles but it is likely the competition handle and if not, I guess I’m working something. I was a little worried about how the knee would feel but it was fine. I was having issues with getting my breathing under control here. 200lbs the pick was feeling a little slow but still ok. I was having to sometimes slow what I was doing with setting up because people were doing bag toss (the new setup is massive and requires two yokes). I decided it made more sense to not worry about swapping out the 100’s onto the handles until the contest weight run. I didn’t dry heave this time so that was good. I knew I could do this and managed to get about half a second faster. But not on the turf so hard to say. Definitely feeling taxing on the hamstrings. It does appear going to try build up 5lbs per session for the next block here. I took my time putting stuff away because I needed to wait until the yokes were free so I could do the next thing; 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. Same as it has been. This isn’t a terribly taxing event and it’s not a problem to do contest runs with this. This time I was allowed to have it be timed. Even though I could’ve gotten my times for the past two sessions I haven’t. Out of sight, out of mind. I was told not to worry about beating whatever pace I was setting and just have it be smooth and a goal to improve on. My hamstrings were feeling pretty cooked from farmer’s so I was little leery about the pick up on these as that was what I pulled the right hamstring on at the beginning of the year. But it was just worked and a little detrained from the break. I felt I was moving well here and getting some good distance on the push over the bar. But breathing was a little off like with farmer’s. Slight hesitations on the competition run at three spots but definitely faster than my first week and likely so the second week. Another little break putting stuff away before heading out side for sled drags to end the day. I was slow moving here getting to this because someone was doing carpentry outside and I was hoping they’d finish up (they didn’t). I was debating saving the sled work for home or doing shorter distance (slightly) on turf with less weight. But luckily there was enough space for me to do a 100’ course so the training session was still on. Still the 5 sets of 100’ with a minute rest. Advised to do 10lbs more than last time but it was easier plate math to add 15lbs to the total and I was trying to move things along. I was not sure how these would go since I had to move the course down about 30’ or so from where I normally do it. First two runs felt good, with the second run feeling really good. But my hamstrings just blew up on the third set with my quads finally catching on to that for the fifth set which slowed down a good bit. It was good that I could essentially take a week off and come right back at it. Stretching was much needed. Three day weekend should hopefully let me get myself back in the saddle with feeling rested/recovered and used to the time shift.

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.