January 19, 2025 - January 25, 2025 - Week 7

 January 20, 2025 – Week 7, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (5 second eccentric, 3 second pause in rack)/Dumbbell Push Presses/PVC Thoracic Extensions
46x2
76x2
106x2
136x2
166x2/10’sx3/5
200x3/40’sx3/5
205x3/40’sx3/5
210x3/40’sx3/5
210x3/40’sx3/5
210x3/40’sx3/5

Axle Jerk Dip Squats (3 second eccentric)
46x3
136x3
226x3
316x3
366x3
381x3
396x3

Chaos Band Push-ups (5 seconds negatives, feet elevated 6”,pin 24)
bwx15
bwx15
bwx15

Paused Dumbbell Y Raises (2 second hold)/Band Triceps Extensions (facing away)
10’sx10/lbx20
10’sx10/lbx20
10’sx10/lbx20

Stretching
 
Comments: The week fatigue caught up to me as I ended up sleeping for almost 12hrs Saturday night. Sunday was going to be interesting in that it looked like my area was going to be hit with about half a foot of snow. When I had gotten up, it didn’t look like it was sticking to the road or blacktop. I was likely going to have to shovel snow more than once. And I was low on rock salt as I kind of used my stockpile up on the last snow that happened about two weeks ago. I decided I’d warm up going for a walk before it got bad. I didn’t anticipate how quickly it did get bad as it was a snow storm about halfway into my walk. Had to dodge a snow plow (don’t worry, they didn’t bother with my street until closer to midnight lol). Close to my house I slipped on a patch of hidden ice. I caught myself but it didn’t feel good on my right knee with the sudden jerk motion. Not ideal to have that be sore with planned training tomorrow (really not ideal any day) and still having to shovel snow. Knee seemed to tolerate stuff and I ended up having to shovel snow twice to clear it all. I was luckily able to get another thing of rock salt from my folks to keep things from being slick later. The amount of snow that came down was probably another sign that it was for the best I didn’t do the show. There had been no snow stuff in the forecast that far out and it would’ve been treacherous to come up from the south from the airport in Maryland. Just have to consider winter weather and competitions December to March. Very thankful that I wasn’t working today so I could get some more sleep and not be dictated by pace of things with the experiment I was going to be doing with my overhead training. It has been frustrating me a lot as of late and now doing my own thing it has felt incredibly vexing seeing as everything else is responding how I feel it should. Been agonizing over form and reading training theory and programs. Ideally, I’d do the plan here for all aspects of the axle press but for now, doing just the press part. 6 weeks of triphasic stuff with two weeks to each phase. I’ve done stuff along these lines but didn’t understand the intent. My thinking being this was just to make it harder. I had some idea with pauses for isometric reasons and the accentuated eccentrics. More time under tension and muscle growth. But that isn’t quite it. I was truly going to start from the ground up here. Warming up I did some thoracic foam rolling and things that I did from some sessions last week. These warming up things seem to be doing better by me than the general warming up protocol. And I meant it when I said ground up. For most of my strongman career, I’ve used lifters for overhead stuff. Because that’s what I was told to do and everyone did at the time. I’ve been reluctant to evaluate that assumption until recently. I’ve seen wearing my regular shoes when doing a log clean feels off with balance in the lap so I didn’t pursue farther. But I’m in offseason and the next contest doesn’t really have a press in it I’m considering. I had noticed in videos about loading the hips and I’ve been having issues doing that. While in the shower, I got into my stance for overhead and noticed I could load the hips without my shoes on it. I could feel the feet and ankle adjustment. Perhaps the hard sole is too much for me to be able manipulate with my feet and feel like my hips. And I’ll be damned if switching out my shoes didn’t have things feeling a load better for my axle. So training for this was going to be different. I had a program I found but had trimmed stuff that I felt weren’t needed as I was doing them on different days and didn’t want to affect recovery. But the first block here was push press with eccentric emphasis and holds in the rack position between reps. This is actually more for the eccentric for strict pressing vs push pressing (I’ll get to that later). Plan was to work up to 5x3 with something that felt like RPE 8. I had an idea what I could do. But not only that but this was to be paired with an explosive movement (dumbbell push press with light weight) and a mobility movement (PVC thoracic extensions). I was excited to see how things would go here. Even though it was below 20 degrees out, I wasn’t feeling very cold. I was initially doing 30lbs jumps but I think I wanted to do at least 200lbs here. This felt pretty good and I was so glad my pressing wasn’t feeling so labored. The other two exercises kind of felt like they were along for the ride. But I could tell as I did these that the dumbbell felt easier and smoother and I was getting greater ROM on the extension. I decided to go up 5lbs a set initially as I felt like the RPE was a little low. 210lbs felt like it was the right call and stuck with it for the remaining 3 sets. This felt like a resounding success to me. But I will temper my joy/expectation until I do some more workouts and getting back above 230lbs. I will say these reps on the push press felt crisper than when I did them two weeks ago with the same weight. The next thing was a bit new for me. As I mentioned, the previous exercise while a push press in the series was not so much the eccentric for the push press. The press is concentric really and the dip is the eccentric to initiate the press. Like the wind up for a box jump. So the thinking was to train that aspect. So I was going to do squats to bottom f my dip to press with slow eccentric. I wasn’t sure how much weight I was going to need here to hit 3x3 at RPE 8-8.5. The unrack was probably going to feel rough on my right knee. I will say unrack felt less stressful on my knees compared to lifters. This was feeling pretty heavy on my body and I thought I found my weight at 315lbs but apparently not as it was moving quite well. So added 50lbs. I’ve done holds and supports on axle above 400lbs (500lbs one time for like 7 seconds) and it is more just getting used to the pressure. I kept pushing these and while heavy feeling, I was still moving the weight well and probably can go heavier to stay in the parameters. Controlled eccentric and then trying to explode up with it and reverse quickly. This felt good to see these concepts in action and feeling like I’ve maybe found a solution. The rest of the workout was pretty much to standard as those things haven’t been messing with me. Chaos band push ups again. Feet elevated 6” and 5 seconds eccentrics. Plan was to do 3x15 regardless of RIR. Which probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I had remembered what setting I had the bands at last time. I had used the j-hooks for the axle jerk dip squats so moved them from where I had them last week. Things were feeling tougher and definitely a challenge to get 15 reps that first set. I measured and it appears that I lowered the setting 2 notches. So I guess this will be tougher than I expected. I stuck to what I had for the other two sets. There were moments where I’d relax my shoulders in kind of a downward dog pose to catch a brief respite before continuing the set to get my 3x15. With that I knew it was not wise to try and increase the weights on the superset. I at most of my lunch at this point since no real risk of puking from the last exercises. Dumbbell y raises and band triceps extensions. Stuck to the same weights and band tension here. It’s not like I’d be making big progress here anyways as I’m already using more than I did when I did this in 2021 and hard to progress on them with how much a little weight added affects things. There were moments I feel that my mobility was better on the y raises. Triceps were feeling the fatigue by this point on the band stuff. Put stuff away before getting out the snow shovel to clean up the last bit of snow compacted by the plow last night. Finished up lunch and stretched.

January 22, 2025 – Week 7, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 seconds)
65x5
115x3
155x2
195x1
235x1
265x5
265x5
265x5

2” Platform Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x3
315x3
315x3
315x3
315x3

Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats (3 count eccentric)
25’sx12/12
25’sx12/12
25’sx12/12
25’sx12/12

Paused Band Lying Leg Curls (2 seconds)
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)x15

Romain Chair SItups
bwx24
bwx16
bwx20

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (2 seconds)
65x12
65x12
65x12

Stretching

Comments: The workload was terrible Tuesday but I guess evened out today as I was able to do other things besides just intake reviews. Really damn cold out right now. Like schools getting delays because buses couldn’t start up cold. Honestly, I don’t mind it until there is wind involved. I was able to get my right knee to feel better by lying in bed and flexing my quad until my knee cap cracked. No issues with slipping on anything walking Tuesday. More details released about the competition in Washington state for the Natural World’s qualifier. Some assumptions I had about how events would be setup a little different for two of them from what I was expecting. Means I’ll have to reconsider how I was going to program things. It’s exciting thinking of the ideas ways to execute things but it is taking a while to figure things out. If I didn’t have a buffer of these next 6 weeks I’d not be feeling comfortable with week to week stuff. Or if I didn’t have notice of what was coming up (in just about anything really). I like to have the plan written out and adjust accordingly. I think in the past I’d rotate 4-12 week protocols that weren’t very different in some aspects. I did the various things to get warmed up for training. I dropped some stuff I did last time and added some things. Warm ups in the garage were a must with the temps being single digit by the end of the session. Starting off the day with the paused ssb squats. Same as last week with 3x5 doing 2-3ct pauses. But more weight going up 2.5%. So 10lbs more. I decided to alter things slightly working up. I had kind of done 40-50lbs jumps last time and I didn’t really get a set in before the working weight with the belt to feel things out. So adjusted the jumps a little to get that to work out. I also figured I’d see if I using my shoes like I did on the overhead session seemed to work here compared to the lifters. Obviously sitting in the deep squat position is easier with the lifters but more knee stress. The lifters felt better compared to wearing the flat sole shoes I wear for deadlift but I think these other shoes are the best bet here. I think lifters still for front squats. I wasn’t sure how things would actually go for the squats and pulls today since I went heavier than I was expecting by 80lbs on the eccentric emphasis jerk dip drives. But seemed to not be a of consequence here. There were aches at the start but felt less so as I warmed up. I kept my warm up pants on for squats. As was the case last week, I feel like these felt better as I went. Or at least felt better. I’m sure the movement was getting a little slower from the fatigue. These are feeling like they move smoother than the csb box squats but this is with lighter percentages comparatively. From there it was the platform pulls. These had felt tougher than I was expecting with the increased ROM and the starting position. Form has to adjust slightly here as I feel like I have to have my grip wider to not have my upper body feel tight and compressed with fitting my legs between. Same as last time but more weight. As seems to be the trend here (baseline, more weight, change weight but less reps, heaviest or nothing). Knees didn’t seem to bother me on these pulls. I was keeping an eye on the right biceps as that was feeling a little tense. Not in a sore way. I’d sometimes getting this sensation when strapping to the bar for a deadlift or rack pull when my suit was too tight. Last set felt the best. I’m hopeful that this block of training will be like the previous where I feel good when the time comes to test. This took care of the meat and potatoes of the session and the rest was the I guess fiber tablet and various greens. Dumbbell Bulgarian split squats 3 second eccentrics to start things off here for the accessory work. As I had mentioned, my plan here was to start light and try and get myself to doing 4x12 with increasing weight the first two weeks. 3 sets had been having me gassed last block so I feel it is important that I build up the strength endurance on these considering what is in store for me when I compete again. If I can handle more volume in these, I can recover quicker. I had done 15lbs per hand last time and it was definitely noticeable with the added set, even with the light weight. This time doing 25lbs per hand. There is greater need for balance on this variation compared to the contralateral load variation. I think I like that one more than this one because of that. But following the guide here to work different versions. I managed to get through these but definitely feeling that last set. Next week is reduction in volume for the “deload” but I’ll probably see if I can push the weight aspect on the last set. Moving on to banded lying leg curls. I was surprised how much tougher the paused variation of these was compared to the eccentric emphasis. There is a good bit of literature that suggests hamstrings respond well to eccentric loading. Considering how tough this was last time, my aim was to try and do an additional set. The hope being 4x15. Those holds in the contraction are quite fatiguing. I was also feeling the stuff before this. The little things to get the hamstrings feeling good. I remember when I was doing 200 reps of these a day with ankle weights for rehabbing my hamstring when I tore it in 2011. So I know they can handle a lot of pain. I was successful in getting through all four sets. I took a bit of break at this point to start getting dinner ready. I had to adjust my meal rotation due to the weather as I didn’t want some poor bastard out in single digits to bring my groceries because I want to have a particular meal in order and my social anxiety stuff acting up. So what I had required a little more prep. This did give me a moment to get some fluids in as the rest of the workout was core focused. Roman chair situps. These wrecked me last week. Not doing exercises like this for a while has the effect. I get a sore tummy for a couple of days but I seem to be much better at it the next time it comes around. I had gotten 3x15 last time where the first set was pretty comfortable and each set after that not so much. These felt real easy the first set but I knew I’d have harder go of things on the subsequent sets. Second set I didn’t rest long enough to recover well as these felt tougher and I got a little cramp on the last rep which is why I stopped. Rested a little bit longer before the last set and it felt similar to the first set. So 15 reps total more to the volume from last time. Then the last thing being the exercise I had chosen for lower back and glutes. The paused snatch grip hyper extensions. I decided I’d attempt to increase the volume using same weight. So 3x12 was the goal. Those extra two reps were noticed on that first set and each set afterwards it was tougher to get them done. Last set getting the lockout was a challenge to hold for the very last rep. I wasn’t expecting the 6 extra reps to be that much harder to get here. Not a ton of weight needed and these are really hitting an area that needs it. Especially if I plan on doing that show in May. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out.

January 23, 2025 – Week 7, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x3
210x8
210x8

Paused 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (1 second)
180x8
180x8

Inverted Ring Rows
bw+22x12
bw+22x12
bw+22x12
bw+22x12

Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 second eccentrics)
26’sx15
26’sx15
26’sx15
26’sx15

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Rows
22’sx15/sbx15--15
22’sx15/sbx15--15
22’sx15/sbx15--15

Stretching
 
Comments: It was supposed to warm up a little today. I guess it technically did but it was still colder than I was expecting it to be. It had seemed like it would get closer to freezing temp then being single digit in the morning. I wouldn’t intentionally have someone deliver groceries in this cold. I had to order twice as the first one replaced my cottage cheese with raisins and it was the one thing that I needed for tonight’s meal haha. I was feeling a little beat from the workout yesterday. My right inside of hip was feeling a little irritated. My hope was moving around would maybe get something to “click” like with my knee and get relief. Not sure if that would happen today though since this was pretty much an upper body session. Besides getting dumped with work Tuesday, things have kind of been pretty quiet and even with the workload. So I’ve been able to do other things and actually take breaks. It does feel weird warming up and not doing lower body stuff for this session. I didn’t feel like my left shoulder blade/scapulae was caught like last week so I think some of the stuff I’ve been doing helped there. It was warmer than yesterday but I was having a hard time staying warm. I guess I didn’t go outside like I did today for training on Wednesday and the sun was out on Monday since I lifted in the early afternoon. Log incline pressing again. Kind of the go to offseason pressing. Last week I had worked up to a comfortable 10rm so this time I was to do that same weight for 2x8 after warming up. I was initially thinking maybe I go a little heavier and close the gap between now and then with my 2021 self. But warming up had me think maybe I stick to the plan here. I’d have preferred to have kept my warm up and gloves on but I was feeling like I wasn’t able to put the best effort forward so stripped those down. I am glad that my abdominals weren’t sore like last time from the sit ups. As I thought, I adapted quickly. The first set felt pretty decent but could tell the second set felt a little bit tougher. Dropped off 30lbs to do two more sets with pauses. These paused presses can be tricky. Sometimes they feel really easy and other times I get fatigue hit hard on some reps and it feels like a struggle to lockout the weight. That first set the weight felt light at the start but then got tough near the end. The second set it felt pretty even the whole way through. I felt it made sense to put all the stuff outside away rather than do something and use my rest to put a little away. I felt I’d probably stay cold doing that. So get it over with and hopefully warm up in the garage. Inverted ring rows were up next. Last two sessions have been higher reps and just bodyweight. I was to stick to 4x12 but add weight to where I felt like it would be like 2RIR each set as I went. 20lbs was what I did in 2021 and I figured I could do that. But why settle there and added 2lbs to that just because. Even doing these with the warm ups on it didn’t feel like I was getting toasty like I did last time. I end up hitting most of the reps in a fast clip and then do slower reps for the last few getting a good ROM and stretch. Seems to work and feel good. I wasn’t too sure how these would go so pleased these went as planned. The weight on the hips from the backpack actually seemed to be what I needed for the hip irritation to go away. I figured it would work itself out. Triceps extensions up again. Same as last week. I didn’t increase the weight on these from last time because these were quite challenging by the end of the four sets. Hoping I guess that I’m better than the last time so these feel easier. And that means having less issues and trying to have a little shorter rest. Thes continue to be challenging. Honestly, the toughest thing I’ve done this week and the last week. I didn’t have any balance issues like last week since core not sore as hell. Superset to end things. Dumbbell lateral raises and half kneeling single arm band rows. I knew I was going to use more weight on the laterals and use my heaviest band tension for the rows. I don’t really have a good way to really progress the rows and I’ll have to see how things feel. Just doing work may be enough really. With the laterals, I was initially thinking just 2lbs more from the top set last week. I had been increasing the difficulty a little each set last time. But I figured I’d just go a little more. This way with the mircoplates let me space out the handles so I could fit my thigh between them when resting at my sides. These felt pretty strong but could tell there was fatigue by the end of the three sets. The rows initially felt like the band tension was too much at the start but once I got used to it, it was quite easy. So either need to add some bands or try and move back further so more tension in that band. It gets tricky getting the tension right on these. But I’ve had good results with band back work like this for reps with pauses and such. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

January 25, 2025 – Week 7, Day 4

Dynamic Warm Up

Seated Box Jumps (22”)
18”x1
24”x1
28”x3
28”x3
30”x3
30”x3

Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
225x3
315x2
365x1
405x1
460x3
407x3
407x3
407x3

12” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts
275x1
325x1
375x1
425x1
Added Straps
472x3
472x3
472x3

Paused Elite FTS Chest Supported T Bar Rows (2 seconds)/Glute Ham Raises (4 showing)
+90x8/bwx15
+90x8/bwx15
+90x8/bwx15
+90x8/bwx15

Seated Single Band Leg Curls/Hollow Body Holds w/ Med Ball Between Ankles
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: It really didn’t want to warm up this week. I should be thankful that work was the usual stress ball it is besides Tuesday. Only thing at this time I am slightly concerned about is my right hip on the inside feels a little irritated. Not debilitating or affecting anything I do but could be sign of overuse or possible disc compression stuff. I didn’t really have a rush to get out to train today again as the friend going to the Arnold taking off to recover from competing last week. Still plenty of people there training. I’m not too sure if anyone is specifically gearing toward anything at this point. But they were doing max stone today and that is something I’d like to do. But not right now. Warming up to get things feeling good. I do a good bit of warming up on this day because of having to sit in a car for over 40 minutes and because the jumping exercises require I do something a little different with the warm ups. I also wanted to make sure that my hips weren’t being affected by anything and vice versa. I’m getting better I think at warming up for box jumps. I was kind of surprised how good things had felt last week that I was entertaining doing 30” box for the jumps this week. See how warming up felt I guess. 24” didn’t feel terribly convincing so I went with 28”, leaving possibility to increase from there. I was definitely not catching these as high as I was the week before that first set. First rep was the lowest and the second rep a little better. I was back to some semblance of landing a good bit above parallel the last rep. Got those jitters out on the first set as usually I feel better as these go. Second set felt like it should and I figured I’ll do 30” for the last two sets. Those went well for me too. I’m not sure if I want to do 30” all sets next week or try to go a little higher before the testing after that. Feeling pretty good about these. Then deadlifts. As I mentioned last time, fatigue felt noticeable with the changes in the exercise selection for the secondary day this block compared to last one in fatigue in lower back and breaking weights off the floor. I mean, that is what is being targeted hard. I was kind of hoping that this week would feel better than that. This was not a “get amped” session either. I think I may be getting better at not letting myself get hyped up on things but I’ll have to see if that is true or just tired when it comes to next weekend I guess. Warming up initially felt like things were good. But stuff started to feel slow and heavy. Plan was to work up to a top triple with the weight I was doing the working sets of block pulls with last week and then drop down a good bit for 3x3. I was not expecting this to feel so heavy and dead. I had to catch my breath a little at lockout on the second rep before going for the last rep. Dropping down in weight did feel better. Video says things were moving fine. I just have to realize this block is working the weaknesses harder than the first block did and likely more than the last block will. But at least watching the video did keep me from stressing out too much and move on to block pulls. Put in the graft as it were. Same pull height and like last cycle, a little more weight and dropping a rep on each of the three sets. So 3x3. This will be the weight I’m to be doing from the floor next time for the test set. These actually felt comfortable compared to floor pulls this time around. Did 50lbs jumps up to the working weight and then did weird kilo combo to get to what I wanted the weight to be. These are also odd in that the sets that feel good don’t look to the fastest or best looking sets. These all felt faster than the top set of deadlifts had felt. Again, working on getting a good solid brace on these and wedging off the floor using my glutes, hamstrings and lower back in synchroneity with my quads and hips. Also not getting hyped up. This should be ho-hum mentally. That was it for deadlifts and moved on to the supersets. The first pairing of paused chest supported rows and glute ham raises. 4x8 and then 4 sets of reps. Doing some kind of warm up set did seem to be good as far as the rows went. Maybe not the best warming up thing for the ghr last time so plan was to try something a little closer without being the actual movement. Doing half the weight added for a set of half the reps does seem to be enough for the rows to start feeling good. I went up 10lbs from last week and I was tempted to add weight but felt it was best to just have things feel good and not try to push just yet. The warming up for the ghrs was a little better I think. I was fully prepared to push the reps here and see where things ended up with the other sets. But this ended up being like last week where I hit double digits on the first set and then just decided to match those reps each set. So sets of 15 reps this time around for 12 additional total reps in volume. These were feeling good. Last item of the day being the pairing of single leg band leg curls with the hollow hold variation. Sticking with this medicine ball one. I remembered to start with the right side first with the leg curls as the lagging side. There is a noticeable difference but I’ve kind of known that in the sense of fatigue on that side vs my left. Even when feeling stronger on some unilateral stuff, the fatigue hits harder. Probably didn’t help with the hamstring strain last year. But my left side is the one I tore over a decade ago so who knows. I think I got a little better with getting myself setup for the hollow hold so not so jarring getting into position. The hold is quite challenging with what I’ve setup here. Cleaned up and put away stuff before downing a protein shake and then stretching out my calves before driving home (getting a little late and had to do some home stuff). I did some decompression for my back to see if that did anything for the hip and it didn’t so that at least indicates not back issue at this point. Finished up stretching.

January 12, 2025 - January 18, 2025 - Week 6

 January 13, 2025 – Week 6, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (beltless)
Pause 1st rep 2 seconds
51x2
81x2
111x2
141x2
171x2
No Pauses
201x2
231x3
231x3
231x3
231x3

Axle Push Presses (beltless, 5 seconds negatives)
182x3
182x3
182x3

Chaos Band Push-ups (5 seconds negatives, feet elevated 6”)
bwx15
bwx13
bwx11

Paused Dumbbell Y Raises (2 second hold)/Band Triceps Extensions (facing away)
10’sx10/lbx20
10’sx10/lbx20
10’sx10/lbx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Feeling pretty good I think for the most part after this past week of training. Almost feeling “rested” coming into this session. This week is the change up week for things as written. The upper body stuff not so much but the lower body stuff as being an actual template is bigger changes. Everything else kind of revolving around it. Work continues to be dumb and I’ve just come to accept that it will be bafflingly so and in new ways every day. Another Sunday training my younger sister with the strongman stuff. I feel things are on point for competition end of March assuming things keep progressing and motivation/confidence remains stable. Weight down a bit. Like all the weight I gained in the past four weeks disappeared lol. It’s just another metric to track at this point each week. I’ve only been doing it after essentially lost like 20lbs over the course of 9 months in 2023 and I don’t want to miss something like that again. Cold today again. But at least it wasn’t snowing. I stuck to the usual warming up I’ve been doing but like I mentioned, I’ve thought about tailoring it to what I’m actually doing for the day. Feeling mostly good. Knees will continue to be achy on things it seems. Especially at the volume and frequency. For training today, starting off with axle. I did adjust the training max for the currently plan down by 20lbs so hopefully this would feel better. The lighter session last week had felt like a good sign to me. Warming up in doubles with the paused first reps and then just doing a double. Plan being about 20lbs more than last time for 4x3. I was feeling pretty good warming up. Feeling less issues in how the weight was feeling on my wrists and shoulders and knees. But it seems that once I get low 200’s that I start having some issues. I had hoped this would feel better than it ended up feeling. Now I didn’t have any missed reps here like two weeks ago but there were reps that I wasn’t too pleased with. There were reps where the weight flew up and others where it was a struggle to lock out. I didn’t feel like I had a lot of triceps power on some lifts compared to others. This conundrum continues to frustrate me. The parts seem to be doing ok but the whole not so much. Could still be too much to recover from or maybe my technique is not good or my mobility is making this harder. I wish I had more time to think on that but my day during the week are booked with work, training and just general housekeep/maintenance. There weren’t reps were I felt my balance was off. I just didn’t feel as strong and powerful as I felt I should. Next was some more push pressing with the axle. The last block was the paused push pressing without a belt. This was to be eccentric emphasis push pressing. These are considerably tougher in that it is more of a strict press eccentric but a push press concentric. So these get taxing real quick. And need to be focused as I had one rep be a little lax and the bar a little out in front on the eccentric making it a lot more strain on the body. But the push press portion of these felt good. I noticed that the paused ones I also felt better about the form and drive. Something to think on. My shoulders got cooked pretty darn good here. Has me a little worried for the next pressing session this week. When I have a moment to breath and think on it, I will to see if maybe there is something there. Enough of the overhead stuff, it was time to do the repping stuff. I put stuff away but I ended up being outside as it made more sense to do so. Push ups but the exercise changing. So instead of the ring ones, it was chaos band stuff. So more stuff with bodyweight and instability component. When this workout was first done, I just did bodyweight and no tempo stuff on the floor. But I know that that would be too easy and that the next session was going to ramp up the stuff because of how easy things were when I did these last time. So I added the tempo and raising my feet up to make these where I feel they should be challenge wise. These felt a little awkward at first. I’ve been doing push ups but the rings allow for ergonomic adjustments whereas forced position for the bands. But I got used to it. I know these are odd in how it feels like I can’t do more but then I keep repping them out. I was to leave 3-4RIR on these and I probably flirting closer to 3RIR and knowing the fatigue I already had in the shoulders/triceps from the eccentric overhead stuff. I feel these went ok. I think I like the rings more but just changing up the stimulus here. I’ll have to think on what I want to do for the next block as I’m not really a fan of the banded push ups (against bands). Last thing lighter stuff. Not all bands but essentially the same stuff as last time. The superset of y raises and triceps extensions. This time the y raises being with dumbbells on an incline bench and pauses. When I first did these, I was using my empty dumbbell handles (6lbs) and I was planning on doing that but I guess I felt I could do the 10lbs and make it work. Good to see that those structures and such have remained strong despite not doing stuff like this. This was the more challenging aspect of the superset. Triceps were bands but the angle and setup different. Anchor behind my head and extending out. I’ve had issues with these feeling good in the past whether it be the joints or feeling like not enough tension. But I think I’ve figured out how to have things work for these as I ended up using more band tension then I did when first doing these. I was kind of surprised about that. I’ve got some ideas but I need to research and perhaps get some sleep to focus on it and not be dreaming about work. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

January 15, 2025 – Week 6, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (3 seconds)
65x5
115x3
155x2
205x1
255x5
255x5
255x5

2” Platform Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
225x2
265x1
302x3
302x3
302x3
302x3
302x3

Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squats (3 count eccentric)
15’sx12/12
15’sx12/12
15’sx12/12
15’sx12/12

Paused Band Lying Leg Curls (2 seconds)
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)x15

Romain Chair SItups
bwx15
bwx15
bwx15

Paused Snatch Grip Back Extensions (2 seconds)
65x10
65x10
65x10

Stretching

Comments: Good and bad. Bad with work still being a constant source of stress. Like my supervisor being out for a few days (stated they came in today because they were worried no one was helping me) as they have some issues going on outside of work. But I also got issued notice I was no longer required to report for jury duty next month. The particular case could’ve had me in court for 3 weeks. So don’t have to stress about that (family and work stuff). I barely get assistance to cover minor things when I lay everything out (I rarely take leave) let alone my entire caseload for most of a month. I shudder to think. I also may have an idea about what I need to do with the overhead. I’m thinking it is a form issue and I need to correct some things in the lower body drive. I plan on switching things up for next week (assuming I get it planned out over the weekend) rather than stick to dogmatic thinking of waiting until the next block. This is also assuming that today goes well with training. I was feeling a little down from work stress and things not going to plan on the overhead that I was worrying that I’d not do well this next block of training and have to toss it all out. I’m trying my best to not let myself be dictated by those moods and wait to think on it and come up with a plan. So part of it was how I was thinking about the warming up. I decided to change that up here and do a few different things to see if that worked with getting things warmed up and feeling good. Some were hits and others misses. I will keep at it and try to get things to click. Anyways, after warming up, it was time for squatting. The last block was box squats and I had done the cambered squat bar. This block was paused squats. I had initially thought about doing this with the cambered squat bar but I figured I didn’t really have experience with this bar to really have a solid base of numbers and this bar does seem to slow me down already with the rocking. I have numbers to work with for the safety squat bar. It has been over a year since I’ve squatted with this bar. Like a year and a half I think. Maybe more. Plan here was lower percentage than the box squats for 3x5 doing 2-3ct pauses. Having adjusted the numbers for the training max, I was using a bit less than the box squats. Which is good as the deadlift numbers will be going up each block. Things felt a little awkward at the start. The weight range I gave myself was 248-258lbs and I ended up going with 255lbs instead of my planned 250lbs. These weren’t too bad. There was definitely fatigue building each set but I feel my pauses were more solid as I went and got comfortable. I’m trying to be mindful of the triphasic intent with the eccentrics, isometrics and concentrics (which is impetus of change on the overhead plan). I was worried these would be terrible and my knees would ache a ton. They only ached a little and these felt decent. Potentially the warming up changes might have helped. From there it was the deadlift secondary variation. Instead of the pause pulls, I was to be pulling from deficit. Indication was to pull from 1-2”. I don’t have 2” that is safe to do. The 1” wood sections I have are really slick and could slide if not covered with something else. So I figured I’d just be weird and use my 6” plyo box to stand on while using the 13” wagon wheels. Get to 2”. I knew these weren’t going to be a pleasant as the paused pulls with the pull angle. The increased ROM and the changed starting point where noticed immediately. Aiming to keep myself without hard belt on these secondary pulls. I feel like these were fairly consistent and the working weight felt better than the warming up weight. Second and last set I feel were the best here. This was inverted set and reps of the squats. The rest of the workout was the other things. The exercises to work the things that are unpleasant to work but need to be worked. These were similar but different from the last block. Bulgarian split squats 3 second eccentrics to start. This time I was to either load with both hands, hold in zercher style or bar on back. I felt it made more sense to do holding weights in my hands to ease the transition and maybe save the bar for the last block. I wanted to use a lighter weight to start things off and ideally do 4x12 to build up volume here and hopefully keep that going for next time with more weight. So this was with 15lbs kettlebells. I switched to my right leg to start after seeing it have a harder time last week with the pushing week. I was leery of any knee aches or hip aches. Things during the actual lifting did get a bit more challenging by the last set but it was more the recovery of my air between sets that was getting a little tough. It was no nap coma situation like last week. I should be good for 25lbs next week and then hopefully doing 40lbs after that. Banded lying leg curls up next. No eccentrics but hold contraction for 2ct each rep. 3-4x12-15. My aim with these was hopefully 4 sets. I dropped the band tension down from last week. The holds on each rep were a lot harder than I was expecting. So I ended up just doing 3x15 here. Really fatiguing the hamstrings. Aim will be to stick to same bands and get 4 sets if possible. Abdominal/hip flexor work changed to roman chair situps. These can be a bit tricky with confidence and anchoring. And they can become difficult quickly if you don’t do them for a long while. No set rep range here like there was with the banded abs. Just reps. I decided I’d see what I felt comfortable doing the first set and go from there. These are also odd in that I feel better with the movement as I do reps in the set. Like, my lower back and such can be annoyed at first but then I’m having no issues a few reps in. I stopped at 15 reps and felt I would just do that for the other two sets. Which was a tall order and became a lot harder to match each set. But I got it done. Really hope I don’t get really sore lower abdominals for the next few days. Last thing to be a glute/lower back exercise of my choice. Last block had been paused single leg hip thrusts and those had served me well. I had to potential exercises for this block; either single leg back extensions or hip thrusts with just band tension. I didn’t like how the hip thrusts with band tension felt and felt it would lead to frustration sooner rather than later. But also didn’t want to bring the single leg back extension into the picture yet. Then I recalled an exercise I had done in 2023 as part of some contest prep that I was reminded of again; paused snatch grip back extensions. I was going to use less weight than I had done and do more reps. Well this worked nicely. Glutes were lit up almost immediately. I think I was worried of doing direct back stuff like this with the increased lower body volume of pulls (and how my squats tend to be a back workout too). This went better than expected. Not sure if I’ll add reps or weight for next time. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching. This was a good session. Hopefully tomorrow is also satisfactory and indicates on the right path.

January 16, 2025 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x3
120x3
150x3
180x3
210x10
190x10

Paused 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (1 second)
170x10
170x10

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx20

Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (3 second eccentrics)
26’sx15
26’sx15
26’sx15
26’sx15

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Rows
16’sx15/abx15--15
17’sx15/abx15--15
18’sx15/abx15--15

Stretching
 
Comments: Yesterday was a tough workout and I kind of hoped I’d get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Not to be. Had another odd stress dream and really was hoping I could sleep for another hour before waking to deal with work. Supervisor out again. But I didn’t get as many stupid things today so it was almost like I wasn’t getting slammed. Cold right now and it will be even colder next week. There is some winter weather happening but only getting a little bit of flurries compared to the inches the northwestern part of the state is getting. Similar to yesterday, I did my warming up stuff more in focus on what I was going to be doing rather than whole body like I’ve been doing. While helpful to gauge things, it could also be stressing things. I noticed when I swapped from regular push ups to modified with warming up that my shoulders weren’t feeling so achy. This will need some fine tuning but I think this is pretty close to what I should be doing for this day as it is. This also may be what I needed to see that I should probably do foam rolling for my t-spine as left scapulae was not moving as well. Anyways, I had log pressing to do. I was a little anxious with this seeing as how axle push press had felt a little underwhelming and I was hoping that it is just that one thing I’m stuck on and not other pressing stuff. The plan for today was to work up to a 10rm and then do some drops from there for the rest of the pressing. Last time I did this was for 8rm but leaving 2RIR. I had done 200lbs which was 20lbs under where I had started when I did these sessions in 2021 and then on this following test did that same weight for the added reps. The hope this second time was to keep the 20lbs difference going or try to improve on it and close the gap. Hips were feeling yesterday. Lower abs thankfully not but the rest of them became noticeable when I got up off the bench any time haha. So 30lbs jumps setup for possibly doing 210lbs if I was feeling good. It started to snow again while I was setting up but did stop a little bit later. Things were feeling pretty good. With how 180lbs felt, I was confident I could do 210lbs here. I did get a little squirrely with things midway as I hit myself in the chin and hit the rack arms. That was unpleasant. It felt like it was slower than it looked for the last two reps on video. I’m glad to see that I was able to get a step closer to my previous pressing. Took off 20lbs for another set of 10 reps and that moved quicker obviously. Took a little longer to adjust the weight for the paused pressing as it was another 20lbs drop. I had to take the bumper plates off and go back the smaller metal plates. It felt distractingly light on the unrack but definitely got challenging by the end. It has been a while but I recall the feeling of doing these paused incline log for higher reps and just feeling the fatigue building in the chest and triceps. So this was good to see. This does alleviate some concerns I had about adjusting the Day 1 sessions. Enough of being out in the cold and inside garage for a slightly warmer cold. I’d eventually work enough in there to get it feeling warm. Inverted ring rows were up next. Same as last week with it being 4x12 with bodyweight. But I could do a max rep set on that last set if I felt like it as long as I left 1-2RIR. I had been surprised with how challenging these had felt last time. And I wasn’t too sure how these would feel after doing more rowing and doing the holds with the back extensions just the night before. Well things seemed to be pretty good this time around. Moving nice and crisp and not feeling any tension in either biceps. Last time I did these I did 19 reps on the rep set. So aim was to do that or beat it. 20 was the right place to call it for now. Triceps extensions up again. Its own thing and not paired with anything. Last time had been 3x15 with tempo. This was thankfully just accentuated eccentrics but another set. I felt it was best to stick to the same weight. I work on intent and not letting other muscles take over (which can happen with my right side). Oof was laying down with the weights letting me know how sore my abdominals were. And how much that helps with my stability and balance. I’ve been for the most part using less weight on these than I was when I did these workouts in 2021 but there were times I did momentum movements and angle of arms to floor can make things drastically easier or tougher. I’m trying to make the most out of the least amount of weights on these I think. So almost constant tension compared to my previous style of doing these. But it can make me feel like I’m not as strong now vs then. But seeing the movement from then and comparing to now, it is obvious one is better control. Which explains why I’m doing other accessory stuff with more weight from then without touching them for years. Things were getting tough by the end here. And really, only 4lbs less than what I was previously using. The superset after this was a change up. Still dumbbell laterals but now doing band rows instead of face pulls. Single arm half kneeling ones. No tempo stuff here. I know I’ve gone with quite a bit of tension on rows and pulldowns using bands in the past. But it has been a while. Plan was 3x15 for both. These I knew wouldn’t be as taxing and hamper what I could do on the laterals so I could probably keep weight up here. Rows not sure what I should do. But lighter than I can just to get used to things again. Things felt a little too easy the first set but I know things can get a lot harder on stuff as the supersets accumulate. So I did small adjustments each set. For the laterals, I added 1lbs each set. The rows I moved where I was back a few inches each set so it was more tension with the same band. The laterals were closer to the intended effort range whereas the rows can go up more. So I guess I’ll do strong band next time. Put stuff away while my dinner was cooking. Stretched after eating.

January 18, 2025 – Week 6, Day 4

Dynamic Warm Up

Seated Box Jumps (22”)
12”x1
18”x1
24”x3
26”x3
26”x3
27”x3

Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
225x3
295x2
345x1
395x3
420x3
445x3
445x3

12” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts
275x1
325x1
365x1
415x1
Added Straps
460x4
460x4
460x4

Paused Elite FTS Chest Supported T Bar Rows (2 seconds)/Glute Ham Raises (4 showing)
+80x8/bwx12
+80x8/bwx12
+80x8/bwx12
+80x8/bwx12

Seated Single Band Leg Curls/Hollow Body Holds w/ Med Ball Between Ankles
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds
sbx25--25/bw+10x30 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Friday I woke up with my left side of my neck feeling a little off. I think it had to do with the band rows. It will go away. Man are my abdominals feeling sore at this point. I feel I need the holiday off work Monday. I wasn’t in a rush to go train. I wanted to get some z’s and my one friend was competing in Mississippi at the show I was supposed to do so not much incentive to cut sleep and go out to train. Some wintry mix with the weather but thankfully the worst of it will be Sunday. I don’t have to worry about training my sister then as she trained at home. This is going to be the start of the new block of the deadlift training. I mean, I already started it with the Day 2 session but this is the more deadlift focused day. I had felt good after the last two sessions. I did my own warming up with what I felt was needed and I was feeling pretty darn good getting ready for the day. Starting things off with the CNS priming with more box jumps. But different. This block variation is seated box jumps. I’ve never done these before. I’ve actually never done any variation of box jumps besides the standard I guess. So I had no idea what to expect here. Sitting on a box about 2” above parallel. This ended up being 2” higher than I was expecting to use. I guess I can squat to a higher box and consider it parallel. I’m learning about the how and why with some of these exercises doing my own research and understanding on why potentially doing things like the jumps and bounds where there is risk. Whereas the regular style box jumps are cutting the eccentric short on the landing portion, these seated ones are that plus cutting the eccentric build up of the initial leap. I had no idea how these would go. My warming up that I’ve been doing with the bounds and such has seemed to feel better each time. The first two expected jumps felt pretty effortless and went with 24” for my planned 4x3. That first set felt too easy for me and decided I’d keep adding 1” if it was feeling good each set. I was thrilled these were going as smoothly as they were. I definitely noticed that there were times where I wasn’t synching things up and it wasn’t as comfortable or easy a leap. I was feeling quite pumped about this development. Then time to do the deadlifts. Stuff had felt pretty smooth last week with the EMOM singles. But that was a bit of a deload session with only deadlifting once that week. Plan was work up to the weights here and doing triples. No excitation on these reps and sets. Honestly, with how I was feeling, it would’ve been a massive effort to get psyched up for this. When I got to the working weight, swapped out the lb plates to kg plates so that it felt stiffer/denser. Stuff was feeling slow but I know that this is the fatigue talking. Pause squats and the platform deadlifts where a good bit of fatigue (and my choice of back/glute exercise). But trying my best to not get worried if stuff was feeling heavy. The deadlifts felt heaviest that first week of the last block as well. Also having sore abs really lets you know when you are using them to brace. No reps were ever in doubt today. Then moving on to block pulls. Dropping down to 12” pull height from the 14” pull height the last block. I’ve not really done much 12” height pulls as of late. In the past, it had been pretty much 1:1 with my floor pull. Usually those were rack or block pulls or the jack stands. Well now I got a ton of wagon wheels to pull off of. I did go lighter than I initially planned with warming up but I felt it was probably for the best as I tend to need to brace a lot harder on the elevated pulls since legs aren’t able to engage as much. Like last block, the weight is slightly more than what I was doing for the top set of the deadlifts. But I think I had a better idea of how things would play out here with body awareness. Stuff was going to feel heavy and slow but I could probably do a good number of reps if needed. Got through the deadlifts and had worked up a good sweat. The remainder of the session being the supersets. Some stuff changing a lot and other stuff not so much. The first pairing still paused chest supported rows on the one side. I had thought about changing up the machine but decided to stick with what I’m using as it requires the least amount of weight to get a good workout in. I think my issue the last few times has been not warming up to this and going right at the weight. It becomes tricky when supersetting with a exercise that can be quite difficult and has to be scaled like ghrs. But I found a way lol. So instead of just negatives, I was to do reps with actual ghrs. I wasn’t sure what the transference would be here. I used less weight than last two weeks on the rows to 1) make sure I wasn’t overdoing it at the start of the block and 2) make sure that the addition of more rowing on Day 3 didn’t hamper things. This was probably the best the rowing has felt and I probably could’ve gone heavier there today. I was surprised I was able to get double digits on the ghrs with bodyweight. I didn’t try to push these too hard just yet. Stop when I felt like it was going to become more lower back extension to finish. Then attempting to match that the remaining sets. The final superset for the day was essentially more hamstrings and then abdominals. Single leg band leg curls as the first exercise. Same but different. Able to potentially do more band tension being able to brace the one side. It does get a little tricky with it being a unilateral exercise with rest. I will need to remember to start with the right side next time as that appears to be my lagging side. The abdominal exercise was to be a hollow body hold variation. I’ve done these and I don’t really feel them. Maybe I’m built different. At least I notice nothing with upper body loading. I was going to initially just do a standard one with no weight but I had an idea to load the lower body with a medicine ball and require myself to isometrically squeeze between my ankles while also holding the position. Just 10lbs was a enough considering my sore abs from Day 2. I didn’t intend to stay to stretch but I did before getting in the car and home to decompress. Looking over the results for the contest I didn’t do, it was a good thing I think that I didn’t. With how I was feeling 6 weeks ago, I’d done 4th place at best and I wouldn’t have been happy with my performance. Assuming I get things with training going in a direct of my liking, May might be in the cards for competing.

January 5, 2025 - January 11, 2025 - Week 5

 January 6, 2025 – Week 5, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses (beltless)
Pause 1st rep 2 seconds
30x2
60x2
90x2
120x2
150x2
No Pauses
180x2
210x3
210x3
210x3
210x3
210x3

Axle Strict Presses (beltless)
50x3
80x3
110x3
140x3
170x5
170x5
170x5

Ring Push-ups (3 seconds negatives)
bwx18
bwx16
bwx14

Band Y Raises/Band Triceps Pressdowns
µb’sx10/lb+(2)µbx25
µb’sx10/lb+(2)µbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: Still doing my own thing so far. I’m pleased with how the Day 3 and Day 4 training sessions have been going. And mostly the case with Day 1 and Day 2. Just need to get the training max right for the overhead pressing and squatting and I’ll be feeling comfortable with doing my own training. This is the longest I’ve gone without coaching (not counting the 7 months or so where I was injured in 2016) since 2014. Around 2012 is when I did start using coaching though. But four weeks of training and haven’t fallen apart physically or mentally. Though overhead press has been close. This week was unintentionally made a deload in most sessions (Day 2 is still heavy) but it actually seems to work out in my favor being that way. I had used too high a weight for overhead pressing so the break and opportunity to reset and cut back will be helpful and I definitely need to take it easy on some stuff with how just about everything below my thoracic spine is sore from the deadlifting. I was surprised how tight my hips were the next day. I knew I needed to move around to get things to loosen up. Weight is up about a pound so I’d say I’m putting on some mass with the increased training volume and workload. Making it more likely that I just ignore what is indicated for under 265lbs weight class right now. I couldn’t just sleep Sunday (though I’ve been working on planning out training and that is keeping me busy outside of work) as my younger sister is hopefully prepping for a competition end of March. So familiarization with stuff and seeing where she is at. Have to wait until next month for the strongman gym for her so somethings  limited here but she managed to do what I was expecting and I feel that has her confidence up after what has been a pretty shit last few months for the family. Moving stuff around did show me how sore I was. I kind of knew some snow was coming Monday but didn’t realize it was going to be enough to cause panic. I had been ignoring the weather app on the phone as it has been letting me know of “snow in a few hours” since Friday evening for Monday. Stuff closed for Monday but since I telework, able to work from home and not given the day off. I’d rather work anyways. But with the snow, this would complicate training for today. This also being another reason I guess that it is good I’m not competing next Saturday. This would’ve been the last heavy axle session for that show and I know that having to do that in the snow wouldn’t be ideal. I had put down salt the day before and then shoveled snow during my lunch break. Put down some more salt after that as it was supposed to snow a little bit more after work. Time to warm up (another busy day at work). Knees achy. I mean sounding like a broken record here. But I was kind of expecting that with moving stuff around yesterday for my sister’s training. I had sat deep with a log as well to demonstrate technique so that was also a bit of mobility not quite warmed up haha. Shoulders a little achy but not sure if that is just from the weather and having shoveled snow. Kind of begging for a deload. But the muscles and such feel good if otherwise tight in the lower body. Again, axle push presses. As was the case about 4yrs ago, I had overreached in the first three weeks of training with Andrew and had a semi-deload to hopefully let me recover and then adjust things for the next block of training. So I kind of needed this for the reset and hopefully feel better about overhead. I had adjusted the training max by 20lbs after the last workout. Plan here was to warm up and do 75%x5x3. Initially this was going to be 225lbs but with the next max, this was now 210lbs. This was to be beltless and initially I wasn’t but I figured I’d stick to that as it was darn cold and I didn’t want to be fiddling with anything more than wrist wraps today. Did the paused first rep doubles working up like last week as that did seem to be somewhat helpful. I didn’t like how heavy things were feeling once I got up to one plate. I was using the metal plates as using the bumper plates to anchor the power rack. Easier to wipes those down from snow. Things seemed to be ok for the working sets. I do seem to have a tendence to push out in front on the first rep of the first set. But the other reps felt better. I’d say only issue I had after that was the last rep of the last set where I relaxed on the eccentric of the second rep so the bar was a little more away from midline going for the last press. I’m just glad that I didn’t have issues with slipping thanks to the salt. Instead of more push pressing, I was to do some strict pressing with the axle too. Beltless as well. 75%x3x5. I don’t really have a number to work off here so I estimated based off of training max for push press now and push press then (4yrs prior) and compared the ratio with the strict press number and adjusted accordingly. I’ve done mostly log strict for the past few months anyways. So these felt a little weird with the ROM. I was thinking initially these were too tough for what I picked to do but apparently I had a much harder time with the weight I picked back then comparatively that I’d say these were quite comfortable in comparison. I feel the first set was a little loose in form (I wasn’t staying tight) whereas I had better stability on the second and third set (feel second set was best overall). That was enough out in the snow as far as training. I put stuff away to give myself a little rest for the shoulders before going into the garage for the rest of the workout. Ring push ups. Same as last time with it being 3 sets of bodyweight with 3 seconds eccentrics and leaving some reps in the tank. But not as many this time. I think this is the last week of these before another variation takes over. I’m liking how these have been going and feeling each week. I’ve been kind of comparing the numbers to what I did 4yrs ago as I was doing better than I did on the inverted ring rows and I seemed to be keeping pace on the ring push ups. This workout I had an increased the reps a good bit from the previous session looking back so I was aiming to match or beat that. I wasn’t sure if that would be the case as I got 18 reps the first set but I managed to get that here as well. The rest of it would be seeing if I could keep the reps up from there. I did take a little longer rest (getting dinner ready) but managed to only be dropping two reps a set after that. I’m glad that my shoulders are feeling better with doing push up variations again and that my chest muscles seem to be responding well to the incline pressing and these. Bands to finish the evening. Only a superset this time. Underhand pull-aparts were dropped so only doing band y raises and triceps pushdowns. Y raises were going to stay as just the mirco bands but I felt after last time that I could probably do more band tension on the triceps like I did the last set last week. Had few pops and cracks in my shoulders and back structures doing the first rep of the y band raises. Triceps definitely felt more challenging this time with the added micro bands. Put stuff away while I waited for my dinner to finish cooling. Stretched afterwards.

January 8, 2025 – Week 5, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x5
135x5
175x3
225x3
265x1
315x1
365x5
325x5
325x5
325x5

Contralateral Load Bulgarian Split Squats (3 count eccentric)
40x3/3
80x12/12
80x12/12
80x12/12

Band Lying Leg Curls (3 count eccentric)
2(mmb)+mbx15
2(mmb)+mbx15
2(mmb)+mbx15

Standing Band Abs
2(ab)x25
2(ab)x25
2(ab)x25

Paused Single Leg Hip Thrusts (2 seconds)
62x12/12
72x12/12
82x12/12

Stretching

Comments: The work week has been a slog. Tuesday felt like it should be Friday already with just the rush to get stuff done and today was no different from that. I’m trying to not stress about things but I feel I’m drowning but like I’m the least submerged maybe of the everyone that is drowning. Everything and everyone just seems to be on edge lately and more so with each passing day since November. As far as how my body was feeling, I guess ok. I was surprised how quickly the soreness in my hips seemed to just disappear overnight from Monday. I felt like I could do deadlifting again. But that wasn’t the plan today. Warming up felt ok. Still having some knee aches and such on some things but I guess less so than Monday session. I did alter things a little at the end for some more ankle/knee stuff. I figured if I’m going to alter things for the box jumping stuff on Saturday to prep, might as well try to get the knees feeling good as I can hopefully get them for the taxing stuff on this day. So starting off training was box squats with the cambered bar again. Last week of this before switching to a different squat (and deadlift) variation for this secondary lower body day. Actually I guess everything will be switched out for a different variation or targeting exercise. This was to be the “testing” day for these exercises (minus deadlift). So supposed to be pushing stuff here. I had adjusted my training max last week based off how things were feeling and going. For today, I was to work up to a top set of 5 reps (RPE 8 or 2RIR) and then drop 10% off that for 3x5. I didn’t want to overdo it here. My throat was feeling a little scratchy as I got some dry intraworkout powder that didn’t mix in the water well enough so that was a bit annoying. I was thinking that 355-365lbs would be where I’d be at with 2RIR with how the squats were feeling. Knees still achy but this was probably the best they’ve felt on these. So maybe I need to do the extra stuff. I just remember how stiff I was trying to sit down to the box at the beginning. When I got to singles, I felt that another 50lbs was there for sure for the top set. I didn’t get hyped up for this but getting that weight out felt comfortable. 5 reps came easier than I was expecting and I likely had +3RIR here. But I didn’t want to do another set. I’ve not tried going this heavy on a cambered squat bar in several years. This is 10lbs under the most I’ve done since my back injury reboot 2016. But I guess I’m just not very speedy with this bar as it feels like it takes a while to do these reps. Possibly I had the weights right before. But lighter seemed to do me good. I’ll just have to adjust my expectations on this variation next time I do this training block (assuming the rest of this goes as well as the first few weeks have). I came down from the high of the top set and the down sets felt tougher to unrack but moved faster if that makes sense. Kind of similar to how the down set on the wagon wheel pulls still felt damn heavy. No deadlifts as deloading this week so I got right into the accessory stuff. And this was going to be challenging. The volume was to be back up to what it was the previous two weeks and the indication was to try and get close to failure by the end of the last sets on these exercises. That was going to be easier make possible for some (weighted exercises) vs others (banded exercises) due to being able to adjust things. Bulgarian split squats with contralateral and 3 second eccentrics. My intent this go around was to do the 70lbs dumbbell after warming up set and do 4x12 to try to increase the reps and sets over last time. But I got in my own way and decided I wanted to go heavier. So I did 80lbs and pushed for 12 reps on the first set. I knew that it was going to be a struggle to hit those same reps for more sets and set it for 3 sets. And I thought I was feeling winded when I did these that first week with 15lbs. Boy was I wrong.  It has been a while since I’ve gotten into a walking death style shuffling between my rest periods on single leg exercises. I’ve forgotten that feeling and wish it wasn’t present again. I kept the rest between legs about the same (with periods of stopping to gasp and yawn) and then doubled that rest between sets or this wasn’t happening. It was literally failure to get that last rep of the last set for the right side. This kicked my ass and I had to lay down for a little nap until I was feeling ok. Like a honey badger sleeping off a cobra bite. Eventually I got moving again and got things setup for banded lying leg curls. These are also a 3-4 sets and plan was to do two lighter sets and then attempt to do the band tension I topped out at last week for two sets. That was the plan. But I felt I was spending too much time from the box squats and Bulgarian split squats that I should just do the top band tension and see how that goes. I was thinking 4x12 but decided I’d rather do 3x15 here. I was still reeling a bit from the previous exercises but I got these done. Banded standing abs after that. 3x25 here. I couldn’t really up the band tension with the setup so I just did the sets again but just trying to improve my intent with the reps and try to get a little more each rep and set. I felt like I made an effort here. I can’t say that was the same feeling the first week with the original setup. This one is much better here. Last thing being the single leg paused hip thrusts. Figuring out the long dumbbell handle works better at keep the weight secure on the one side definitely helped with progressing here. I was going to initially start lighter and make a big jump and aim to do 3x12 with same weight I did 2x12 with last week. But I actually looked at my PR records and anything over 72lbs would be PR for a set of 12 reps here. So I went with starting heavier and no warming up (I mean, legs and such couldn’t be more cooked at this point) with 10lbs jumps. In hindsight, maybe a warming up set was warranted as that first set felt a bit rough and had me wondering if I was going to be good to push the weights here. But more weight added and the second set felt smoother. 10lbs more and off to the races. I should mention I switched sides I started with on this exercise. 82lbs was definitely getting challenging but it wasn’t say as close to the limit as other things I did today. Put stuff away and prepped dinner before eating and then stretching.

January 9, 2025 – Week 5, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x3
120x3
145x3
170x10
170x10
170x10
170x10

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12
bwx12

Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions (0-2-0-2 tempo)
26’sx15
26’sx15
26’sx15

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Band Face Pulls
16’sx20/abx20
16’sx20/abx20

Stretching
 
Comments: Continuing to be a dizzying mess with work. Just everything. But can only do what I can do. It continues to be cold and windy. So much so that I can feel a draft in the side of the wall where I work. It was getting cool enough that I actually put on some clothes besides just shorts in the late afternoon. So I knew it was going to be frigid and miserable outside. The wind is the issue with it feeling a lot colder than it is. Plus blowing all sorts of debris into my yard. So I was committed with keeping the warm ups on most of the time today, especially outside. Warming up felt fine. Knees not quite as stiff. So like least amount of stiff this week. I decided it made more sense to setup just about everything for training today rather than bit by bit as I had a feeling I’d probably cool off dramatically from putting stuff away for the outside stuff coming in to do the remainder in the garage. So as mentioned, this is a bit of deload for the upper body this week as well as for deadlift. Just happened to line up that way. Things won’t line up like this the next time around. But the early partial deload was definitely needed for the upper body (as far as overhead) to course correct. So just because “deloading” doesn’t mean super easy. With overhead stuff, it was lighter but more volume. Same here. Was to do 4x10 on the incline log pressing after warming up. Like I mentioned, essentially following 4yrs old training sessions with 20lbs less to adjust for where pressing is currently at. I was hopeful that this weight would feel comfortable enough that I didn’t need to take off my warm ups or gloves and use wrist wraps. I generally don’t use them on log incline stuff but had been lately. So this would be like my “beltless” overhead deloading I guess.  Thes felt fine. A little achy in the shoulders but felt less as I went and hardly worth noting. My shoulders have actually felt achy at times while working then this training. I could tell that my triceps were starting to get fatigued by the end here. Felt solid with the reps and no worries about missing a rep here. Took most of the outside stuff inside (saved some for later during rest haha) and into the garage. Inverted ring rows were up next. Now these I thought might be too easy on paper. Especially since I was going heavier than when I did these session 4yrs ago here. But I guess the extra reps made a world of difference. Even with body weight these got tough quickly after the first set. I could feel a little hint of “danger” in how fatigue was creeping in. I was building up a good bit of heat but kept the warm ups on (I did take them off to cool off slightly before the last set). So this was a bit surprising but I guess I’ve always got fatigue building on the higher reps on these kind of exercises, even when I’ve been in the weeds for sets on sets with lower reps. The triset was broken up this week and I guess going forward. Triceps get special attention while the shoulder stuff gets to stay as a superset. With the triceps, still the lying extensions with dumbbells but bringing in dreaded tempo work. Now I’ve done tempo modifications with eccentrics and pauses but these with tempo for concentric and eccentric and those be for the devil with how the fatigue builds. Starts small but you realize it is not fun shortly into the set. It makes it difficult to gauge an appropriate weight with the recovery between sets. Especially the first time in a while. I decided perhaps foolishly to stick to the same weight I was using. As expected, it got tougher each set. I didn’t do any wrist rotation because I was having a time with keeping track of the tempo and not losing count of my reps (another issue haha). I do feel I was in the RPE 7 range for the first two sets but the fatigue hit me hard on the third set and had to sit up for a moment to get fatigue out of my shoulders on the right side before finishing up the last two reps. Then shoulder complex superset. Dumbbell laterals and band face pulls. Just two sets but 20 reps per set and ideally a lesser effort range (RPE 6 vs RPE 7). The issue with the triset is that the shoulders also get fatigued with the triceps exercise holding the position and number of sets. Less sets and more reps with less exercises likely means I could actually use more weight and have it feel easier or about the same. So I took that gamble. And it seemed to be the right call. First set felt perfect and the second set I could tell that this is just as fatiguing in a different way as the triset. But I got a good shoulder pump here. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

January 11, 2025 – Week 5, Day 4

Dynamic Warm Up

Box Jumps
18”x1
24”x1
30”x3

Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
185x3
235x2
285x1
EMOM
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1
340x1

Romanian Deadlifts on Belt Squat Machine
90x5
180x5
270x10
270x10
270x10

Elite FTS Chest Supported T Bar Rows/Glute Ham Raise Eccentrics (4 showing, 8 seconds)
+90x15/bwx8
+90x15/bwx8
+90x15/bwx8

Seated Band Leg Curls/Smith Machine Planks
sb’sx25/bw+100x30 seconds
sb’sx25/bw+100x30 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: Kind of glad this was kind of a deload session here with how stressful work has been this week. And it really doesn’t seem to be a let up on that stress. I had a stress dream Thursday night that was unpleasant. Everyone and everything feels like they are on edge these days. I made sure I got in my walk on Friday as I had been working through my lunch most of this week. I was thinking about quitting my job as I was drifting off to sleep Friday night. I know I need to get some sleep and destress from things when I’m like that. Again, a good thing I’m not competing next week. Drive out was fine, I was kind of surprised there wasn’t more commotion and traffic. Consistently been a fair number of people at the gym as of late. I don’t mind it. I mean, I’m not really using anything beyond machines and bars at the gym right now during my little offseason excursion here. I may need to figure out when I have moment what I want to add or subtract from the warming up for each day. As I had already added some things to the Day 4 training with the box jumps and a little to Day 2 for box squats, I may need to make the warming up a little more bespoke going forward as needed. The general warm up is still good overall body warming up. But I know that some things won’t be good if I add them in all the time and not let some things rest. I was feeling decent today. I think being around people that also enjoy training let me get some talking out beyond the frustrated cursing I do out loud to myself during the workdays. So while most of the workout was kind of a “deload”, there were some parts that weren’t. Like the box jumps. So the previous four weeks have been sets of triples with increasing height. The plan for this session was to work up to a max height triple. Assuming I stick to all 3 of the training cycles, I’ll be testing out two more box jumps like this. Based off how things have been going here, I felt that 30” was a good goal for this time. It would be 4” higher than what I was doing last week and only for a single set. It would still be I think 3-4” lower than my best successful jump from like 8.5yrs ago. I never really tested jumping back when I was competitive in volleyball as far as height. The last time I went for this height, I was doing doubles and on the last rep I hit the box weird (wasn’t anchored) and ended up fracturing my left elbow (avulsion facture). So no box jumps since end of July 2021 until just this training cycle. So a triple here would be a PR I guess. I did some bounding and such like last week. I did some other things to that I hoped would have things feeling good. I think that worked out well. The singles felt comfortable. I was nervous for the triple (I tend to be for the first sets of these anyways) but I told myself I’m doing this for fun and I enjoy this (borrowing what a friend said to me last week to help with my nerves). It took a bit of building up the gumption/confidence before giving that first jump a try and I got it. About 18 seconds after that to go for the second and about the same amount of time for the final rep to complete the triple. I should note that I’m trying to land with my hip crease above parallel. Trying to get measure of the power and not my ability to pull my legs up or be flexible. Same reason with keeping deadlift stance on the squats for now. Everything focused on getting the deadlift strong this prep. I was pretty amped from the success on the box jumps. Which I guess is kind of the idea with them in the first place. Then deadlift time. This was a deload with the plan being about 100lbs less than my top set for reps for EMOM singles. Light, work on getting things moving fast and giving myself a ton of touches at setup for a pull. Warming up my knees were feeling a little stiff. Maybe they are used to me doing more jump volume now before doing these haha. Anyways, once I got to the working weight, these were quite comfortable and I got a good sweat going. Deadlift is feeling pretty good right now. Secondary exercise deloaded as well. No elevated pulls this week. It was my choice of either a gm or rdl exercise for 3x8-10 at RPE 6. I felt that I wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to deal with barbells and stuff here. I had an idea to use the belt squat cable setup for some rdls. The cable pulling away and being able to really sit back. No straps, no belt to keep it interesting. I did have to lug the 9” wood blocks on to the platform to get the start height better for the exercise. I probably didn’t need that if I had someone to work the handle but I didn’t want to bug anyone for that for what was just fairly comfortable reps anyways. These felt pretty good and I feel I picked the right weight for these for today. The rest of the session being the supersets. Not much changed here compared to the usual workout. Just one less set each exercise for the most part. The chest supported rows were no longer paused and for higher reps. I decided I’d use the weight I did last time and that was a good call here as these felt pretty tough with the added reps. Probably from doing the reps on the inverted ring rows too. Noticing the first set of these feels pretty rough cold so I may need to do something beforehand. The  glute ham raise negatives felt better and I think it was because the pad was at hole 3 showing (or 3.5) and not 4. It was a pretty noticeable difference here. These felt a lot better and I wasn’t feeling any stressing my ankles. I did make sure that I wiped my thighs down between the pairings to hopefully keep from sliding down. Last pairing was the seated band leg curls and smith machine planks. I had liked the strong bands on these last time and since only two sets, I felt I could muster that tension for both sets. Hamstrings are definitely getting stronger. The planks I will say didn’t feel like as much stress on my shoulders but I almost had a black out on the first set from placement but I toughed it out. The second set felt a ton better. Put stuff away and downed a shake before stretching my calves only (I like using the steps to do that) as I was potentially going to have to do some shoveling of the street and back patio to have things ready for my sister’s training tomorrow. I thankfully didn’t have to do much due to the sunlight. Stretched out afterwards.

December 29, 2024 - January 4, 2025 - Week 4

 December 30, 2024 – Week 4, Day 1

Dynamic Warm Up

Axle Push Presses
Pause 1st rep 2 seconds
46x2
76x2
106x2
136x2
166x2
No Pauses
196x2
226x2
256x2 (one miss)
256x2
256x1 (three misses)
256x2

Paused Axle Push Presses (2 seconds in dip, beltless)
226x3
226x3
226x3

Ring Push-ups (3 seconds negatives)
bwx15
bwx13
bwx11

Underhand Band Pullaparts/Band Y Raises/Band Triceps Pressdowns
mbx10/µb’sx10/lbx25
mbx10/µb’sx10/lb+(2)µbx25

Stretching
 
Comments: Another week down. Last week was an odd week with the holiday and work hours and just the number of people. This week similar with work and hours but not the people. Again, weight is up a little bit but more than last week. Could be do to having many family meals but considering I also had the runs for two day nonconsecutive days, it is likely that I’m gaining weight from muscle. I’ve been noticing my shoulders have looked bigger. This is more volume than I have been doing for some time. I feel it would probably take some effort to get down to 265lbs again. But it could just be that I have an easier time with weight coming off when it is warmer. Not a concern here really, but just getting an idea of options which possible upcoming competitions. Right knee was a little achy but not as much as it felt last week getting ready for this workout. No warm ups as it did get a bit warmer but I did put them on when I was outside setting things up for training to stay warm. I was feeling decent. Just a little sore in the hamstrings. Again, axle push presses. As I’ve been mentioning, it does appear that I’ve set my sights too high with how I’m recovering and where I’m really at as far as overhead pressing. I’ve not hit over 290lbs since 2022. My hope was to survive this workout and then adjust things appropriately going forward in the next block of training. So this was 85%x3x2 which initially was to be max reps on that last set leaving 1-2RIR on that. I’d already decided not doing that with how things felt the first heavy week here. I changed up the warm up here to what I had done in the past for these workouts which was to do paused rep the first rep and then regular rep the second rep up to a certain weight (no more than 70%). Things had not felt great last time trying to do things like I had and then switching to singles. I was feeling somewhat decent working up that I was hopeful things would be good. I don’t know what I thought that. First rep of the first set went up ok but I had to control it back down and going for the second rep I hit a wall my first go. Well damn it. I didn’t panic and let things settle before getting a big breath and going a bit deeper on the dip and launching it. It was a real struggle here to get that rep to lockout. This was not good. I mean, things could always be worse and really anything besides these reps going up smooth was going to be a “disaster” for me anyways. I took slightly more rest than I usually do on these before approaching the second set. Second set felt better and I was able to launch the first rep up there no problem. But I did end up taking a breath at lockout to settle the weight and rebrace. No issues with the second rep then, just as quick as the first. Ok, so maybe I am ok here. I was almost entertaining doing a rep set for the third set now with how that felt. Third set was a disaster. First rep and unrack felt just like the second set. But I didn’t wait at lockout like I did the second set to rebrace. I think I was trying to rush and move things fast. Ended up like the first attempt of the second rep of the first set but a little more balance issues where I lost it and had to take a step back. Ok, been here before. Just need to get a big breath and drive it up there like I did the first set. Nope, that didn’t work. Just ended up pushing it out in front and not being able to get myself under it. Racked the weight and took about 15 seconds to compose myself and gave it another shot. It was closer but not happening. I chucked the weight into the power rack out of frustration. I was seriously considering packing it in for the night and potentially scraping the training all together as I wasn’t seeming to figure out how to make things work for this particular event. I had turned off the camera and took off the support gear. But I something told me to try it one more time. So I turned the camera back on and got myself set and went for another set. This was almost a repeat of the second set where I got it no problem. I just let out a groan of disgust afterwards. Need to review what went right and wrong here on these sets. Maybe I just skip the odd number sets? I wasn’t done with axle. Belt off for the paused stuff, Again, dropping 10% off for 3x3. First week these had been draining and then second week felt surprisingly explosive and powerful. This week decided being somewhere in the middle. But also having me feel unbalanced pushing to lockout. Power was there but it felt like more effort was needed to get my shoulders through on the lifts. I was just trying to get these done and over with so I could get to the friendlier stuff in the session. I think this was the final straw needed for me to realize I need to adjust the training max I’m using as this wasn’t working. I had lowered it for the deadlift (based off training recommendations) and had lowered it for the pressing secondary day because I knew my strength is still down (using 20lbs less than when last running it). Need to figure things out on this. I put stuff away to give myself a little rest for the shoulders before going into the garage for the rest of the workout. Ring push ups. Same as last time with it being 3 sets of bodyweight with 3 seconds eccentrics and leaving some reps in the tank. So not to failure. First week these had really nuked my shoulders but I felt no worse for wear after the second session. My hope here was that it would be like last week. My lower abdominals were a bit sore (uncertain if from Saturday or from trying an exercise on Sunday) so that was noticeable when bracing to setup. These felt quite good. I managed to improve by one rep on the first and second set from last time so that is an increase in volume. This ties the volume I did on these over 3yrs ago first running this setup so that at least seems to be doing ok. At this point, I took a break to get my dinner ready before finishing up with the band triset of exercises. Two sets again. No changes to the band tensions here I was thinking initially. Underhand pull-aparts felt strong and good. I felt like I had better control and noticed how the parts were moving. Band y raises are pretty much how they always feel. The triceps felt a bit too easy after the first run through so I used the micro bands on top of the light band on that final set and that seemed to be appropriately difficult. I used the chunk method to distract myself through that. Put stuff away while letting my dinner cool. Stretched after dinner. Going to have to think on things a bit with planning things with training. Some stuff is really working for me and others not so much.

January 1, 2025 – Week 4, Day 2

Dynamic Warm Up

18” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats
85x5
135x4
185x3
235x2
285x3
285x3
285x3
285x3
285x3
285x3

Paused Deadlifts (3 seconds mid-shin)
135x2
185x2
225x2
275x2
Added Straps
315x2
315x2
315x2
315x2
315x2

Contralateral Load Bulgarian Split Squats (3 count eccentric)
25x3/3
50x3/3
70x10/10
70x10/10
70x10/10

Band Lying Leg Curls (3 count eccentric)
2(mmb)x15
2(mmb)+µbx15
2(mmb)+mbx15

Standing Band Abs
2(ab)x25
2(ab)x25

Paused Single Leg Hip Thrusts (2 seconds)
12x3/3
32x3/3
52x3/3
72x12/12
72x12/12

Stretching

Comments: I had to do some thinking after the last session. Thankfully I only had to deal with a half day of work on Tuesday and not as stupidly rushed for New Year’s compared to Christmas with stuff. I didn’t wake up with bad allergies like I’ve done so for the past two Tuesdays. Shoulders, upper back/traps and some lower back feeling the last training session. Walking was needed to loosen up as well as soft tissue work. Getting out of work early meant I could do that earlier in the day. But point being that I have to consider I need to be using a lower training max for the overhead pressing and squatting if I want to manage surviving my own training setup like this. Accessory work has been just going by feel really and the incline and deadlift are based off of lower training maxes. I think I also realized I don’t need to be a slave to the rigidity of a program. I can deload and adjust as needed. I’ve already indicated I have picked too heavy a weight to base training for the overhead and to a lesser degree the squat. I don’t have to wait to a set time to make the change or stick to a weight because it disrupts the numbers from a previous session. Though it is feeling a little hard to digest going lower in weights on some things and potentially feeling like this is being a casual training and not aiming to compete. Kind of a fading away thing. I hope not. But I can’t help thinking that as I get older. I’m feeling like this is ending up being a longer time before I feel ready to do anything besides just lift than anticipated. Anyways, on to training and less existential heady stuff. Unlike last week, I didn’t have to get up early today nor did I have the runs. So already checks in the positives column. Some feelings of fatigue in the shoulders (mostly the left side) as well as just the expected aches in the knees (mostly the right). I started off with warm ups (it was windy as shit out) and discarded them as I got to actually lifting. I realized I might have missed one of my warming up exercises Monday. Starting off training was box squats. This week is a bit lower volume for this session as plan is highest effort for the deadlift day on Saturday this week. More sets and less reps with the csb box squats. If following to the T, it would’ve been 6x3 with the same weight as two weeks ago. But as mentioned, I accepted I had gone too heavy on squats and overhead press. So I pulled back the numbers to treat it as if two weeks ago was actually 5% higher than I had thought. So essentially dropping the weight for this session by a little over 20lbs. This was definitely the right call as my knees and my body were not enjoying things at the start. On the plus side, my lower back didn’t feel it like it did last week with the big jump in weight. With how cranky the knees were feeling, I didn’t really sit back with the squats and it was more a squat to box then actually breaking the up the eccentric and concentric. I usually don’t notice needing to make a drop in weight for recovery as quickly as I did but it was the right call. Thankfully, I felt better as I went on these and the movement became easier and smoother. Next week is a heavier day but end of the exercise for the current cycle. I did get a little anxious when my right calf got tight on one of the middle sets. But no issues after that. Paused deadlifts with pause at midshin again. These had felt quite good last week. Like squats, volume decreased. More sets but less reps. This was also the first time that the deadlift was heavier than the squat in the session (even if I stuck to my original numbers). Though this start of block is a bit of and outlier compared to the proposed remaining cycles. 5x2 with 3 second pauses. 2.5% increase in weight from last week. I’m feeling better about the deadlift since doing the trainings. I can tell my body positioning is feeling better, noticing the engagement of certain muscle groups and not feeling like I need to get stressed out to do the lifts. I was able to do 40-50lbs jumps warming up in doubles here. No micro weights needed. I’d say not as good feeling compared to last time but still quality. These seem to work for me when I have the intent. Whereas I feel achy at the start of the squats and eventually get better, I don’t usually have that issue with deadlifting. Anyways, the squat and pulls are done and now for the other stuff that takes forever. As I mentioned, the volume is less this session. Essentially the reps are the same but the number of sets is decreased by one. Bulgarian split squats with contralateral loading again. Still 3 second eccentrics. This has been 3-4 sets but I’ve felt like 3 sets has been enough as I’ve gotten used to this kind of work again. And I’ve been progressing quite well. So this was 3 sets anyways. I had made a pretty big jump from two weeks ago and last week. I was hoping I could do the same this week. I was initially planning on only going up 10lbs from last time but see how it felt and gauge from there. It ended up feeling pretty easy so I decided I’d go big with the 70lbs dumbbell. This definitely got challenging. I was making sure I was leaving some RIR here as this isn’t to be a maxing out week (that’s next week). Right side it was definitely a bit harder to do. But I can tell my legs and glutes are responding here with how things are improving each week. It will be interesting what I can push this kind of work to with focus in this offseason. I realized at this time in the session that I had definitely started a bit later than intended and that with how long this session tends to be, I was going to have to start eating some meals while training if I didn’t want to be eating all of them afterwards and then most likely have an early dinner with my parents for New Year’s. I figured I’d do another exercise and before putting in calories. So lying leg curls with the bands. These are also a 3-4 sets but been sticking with 3 sets as I’ve gotten my legs used to the volume again. So 3 sets here. I had improved on these but I had felt the tension band curve was a little off (too light at the end). I didn’t think moving up to a strong band was the best option here. Then I remembered that I had setup two bands for the abs and that worked better than a single band. So I did that here. It’s not a 1 to 1 though so using lesser bands that ended up being more challenging than the band setup I had last time. Definitely felt like a better strength curve. I’m curious what I can push this to next time when I don’t need to be keeping the RIR in check. Took a break to eat before moving on to the ab work (always a good decision). The setup last time worked the best I’m probably going to get with the home setup and putting more band tension isn’t going to be better since I have to anchor myself. Been working on these with intent and trying to move a little further out during the course of the set (hard to start out far right away without getting used to it). These are feeling good and strong. Just two sets here. Another meal in before moving on to the  last thing. Again, the single leg hip thrusts. I was hoping that my progression these would be similar to the Bulgarian split squats as I get more and more used to it. I was initially only planning on about 50lbs here for the 2 sets. But things were feeling really good. Maybe using the longer dumbbell handle made things better for the weight to sit. I ended up using 20lbs more than I was expecting here. These felt powerful even with the holds and added weight. Put stuff away and stretched which gave me a little time before then going over for dinner with my parents.

January 2, 2025 – Week 4, Day 3

Dynamic Warm Up

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
105x3
135x3
165x3
195x3
225x6
205x6

Paused 12” Log Incline Bench Presses (2 seconds)
185x6
185x6

Inverted Ring Rows
bwx3
bw+31x8
bw+31x8
bw+31x8
bw+31x14

Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extensions/ Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Band Face Pulls
26’sx15/11’sx15/lbx15
26’sx15/11’sx15/lbx15
26’sx15/11’sx15/lbx15

Stretching
 
Comments: It was good to have a day off again but can’t get used to that obviously. I was slightly worried that I was overdoing it with the training (even with pulling back the squat weight) as too little too late. The overhead is going to be the big test I think. Left shoulder/trap was feeling worked (sore but not like lactic acid sore) and I had noticed my upper back was feeling a little sore moving stuff around in the garage to change setups. So waking up with things kind of feeling that way, I wasn’t too sure how this secondary pressing day would go. Well work decided to be entirely too much today that I didn’t have time to even think. You’d think I’d be used to the constant deluge of crap with this job’s workload but nope. This was probably a good thing in that it kept me distracted from thinking about training trying to figure out how this was going to work out. The work from day was going to require time the next day to resolve on top of what was already scheduled. It is dizzying and stressful. But then I was off the clock and it was time to train. It has been quite cold again. I wonder how I was tolerating this weather even last year training event specific stuff. I’m kind of glad not doing that right now. But I do have the itch to prep. But not all the parts are together with training to feel super confident just yet. I like the options I’ve given myself and if I can get everything progressing smoothly, I will be happy as a clam. Wore my warm ups to warm up. Only thing really that continues to be noticeable with session to session is the knees being achy and more so the right one. But it’s not really getting to the point where it has gotten worse over time. Just something I expect to be the case doing squat exercises coupled with everything else. This is the quickest day in the rotation as it stands. And likely will be that case going forward. Log incline pressing as the secondary pressing. It seems to be treating me good again. This was going to be a bit of jump on things and I hoped that I was actually ready for it. So I’ve been following same prep I did from about 4yrs ago now for both pressing sessions (though altered the primary day recently and going forward) and with this secondary day I’ve been working off about 20lbs less than I was doing then. I know my pressing ability is down and has been so I’ve been trying to keep things going as they are and so far so good. This was going to be a pretty big jump in weight going up 20lbs from last time for a top set and then doing 20lbs drops after that for the rest of the log work. 30lbs jumps working up in triples. I waited until it was time for the top set to take off my gloves and warm up top. I don’t like having those on for serious sets because of risk of slippage. I was really hoping this worked out. Last time I did this one, I had miscalculated and ended up a rep short on the top set. But I had also thought I was ready and used to the increased pressing volume at the time. I got myself set and had at it. I knew I had it with the first rep. I was concerned since I had those missed reps on axle Monday that my shoulders would be beat up. But I got it done. The rest of this shouldn’t be too bad. 20lbs off for another set of 6 reps. No changes here. I had just done this for 3 sets of these reps last week. It still felt a little challenging. 20lbs again but this time adding in pauses. I was to do 2x6 with 1-2ct pauses. It has been a bit since I’ve done true paused work on these. I was somewhat doing that with the bands and hovering near the end of the last training cycle. I managed to get these done as well no worse for wear so this is all positive. Stripped down weights and into the garage for the rest of this nonsense. Inverted ring rows were up next. I can’t believe I stepped away from these for so long with how good these feel. There are other rows for more specific stuff but these seem to be good for me to recover from. So I know I may need to put something in their place if necessary. But liking them where they are now. Especially since I’m using more weight then when I did this workout about 4yrs ago. So as was last week, the plan was to do same weight for 4x8 with brief holds but allowed to rep out the last set as long as I left 2RIR. I do notice that the fatigue builds over the sets on these. I was feeling decent on these but wasn’t expecting a whole lot on the proposed rep set. But I think I also forgot how I can eek this out under fatigue. I stopped at 14 reps here. So that was a good result. Last thing was a triset. Same as last week. I decided to be a little bold here and snuck in 1lbs weights to the 10lbs dumbbells so I’d have a little heavier weight. I knew the triceps weight was just right for how things are and that I’d may be able to get the other two exercises a little tougher with small changes. Like stepping a back a little further on the band face pulls for some more tension. I know to keep my ego in check here from doing these 4yrs ago. I had gone too heavy on the triceps at the time and had to drop down considerably and build back up. Whereas I’ve been feeling pretty consistent on things here. I went whole hog into the rotation of the wrists with the movement on the triceps. The extra lb was noticed on the laterals but still good. The face pulls were good with adjusting the tension to be a little more substantial. Still quite fatiguing but I’m getting used to it and trying my best to not let that have me be sloppy. I was feeling quite pumped up in the upper body from this work and decided I'd measure my arms. Just shy of 19" which might be the biggest they've been. So that's pretty neat. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out.

January 4, 2025 – Week 4, Day 4

Dynamic Warm Up

Box Jumps
18”x1
26”x3
26”x3
26”x3
26”x3

Deadlifts (straps)
135x5
225x3
315x2
365x1
405x1
445x10
395x5

14” Wagon Wheel Deadlifts
235x1
325x1
415x1
Added Straps
475x1
525x5
465x5

Paused Elite FTS Chest Supported T Bar Rows (2 seconds)/Glute Ham Raise Eccentrics (4 showing, 8 seconds)
+90x10/bwx8
+90x10/bwx8
+90x10/bwx8
+90x10/bwx8

Seated Band Leg Curls/Smith Machine Planks
ab’s+mb’sx25/bw+100x30 seconds
ab’s+lb’sx25/bw+100x30 seconds
sb’sx25/bw+100x30 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: I was a bit more prepared to actually be ready to train this time around. No stomach issues (I actually had a big appetite the night before) and I already got my breakfasts for next 7 days meal prepped and had everything packed and ready. So just had to putz around while eating breakfast and be out the door. I had stayed up a little later thinking about stuff for training (always something) and had planned to do the write up for Thursday before I went to train but figured it was best to save that for when I was back home. It was cold out and kept getting alert for “snow possible in next few hours” but then the forecast says it is for Monday maybe. I guess that is a few hours at some point… I was not sure how this training would go since this was to be a testing of sorts for the block in training. Essentially repping out weight on deadlift and then hitting a 5rm for the block pulls. The rest of the training being the same as it has been. Drive out was good. Lot of people there again for training. Thankfully I didn’t get crowded like last time. I was feeling ok I guess joint wise doing the warming up. Right knee still a thing here but I guess not as stiff as it could be. Starting off the session with box jumps. Again, 4x3. After last time with how stiff my knees felt, I figured that there had to be a better way to warm up for these as my dynamic warming up was not cutting it. Thankfully, I’m not the only person to ask this and the warming up was essentially doing bounding exercises of increasing intensity. I wasn’t too sure as my knees were still feeling ass and shit doing these but when I did what I was expecting to be one a couple singles at 18” to warm up and it felt like a breeze, I was sold. I went right on up to 26” for another 1” increase in height. Next week is a max triple test (also heavy squat and accessories on Day 2) and I feel 30” is there. I’ve done that for a double a few times but a triple would be good. Maybe because I wasn’t worried/fearful of not clearing the jump to box this time around that I didn’t have the usual consistency I do. I had to redo a rep on the third set because an elderly couple had kind of snuck up on me and startled me (I get really focused on the jumps) and I didn’t quite clear and ended up knocking over someone’s energy drink in the process. It’s a good thing I’m using the soft boxes with how I am. But other than that rep, I had two others that I didn’t go as far on to the box as I usually do. But oh well. I’m liking how I’m progressing here. Then deadlift time. As I mentioned, this was a testing week. In the rough draft for this program, this was the one week of the block where it was ok to get “aroused”. I wasn’t trying to get anxious but I did. Plan was 85% of training max for AMRAP leaving 1-2RIR. So 445lbs. I was really hoping for 10 reps here. I’ve not really done reps on deadlift from the floor. 405lbs is actually the most I’ve done for a set of 10 reps since my 2016 back injury. I know I could do more than that but it wasn’t tested. I imagine having testing anxiety this far removed from school? (I don’t think I ever had that with actual school work lol). I ended up nicking my left shin with first set warming up so little bit of blood. I was feeling ok. Last single I got down to the bar and threw up in my mouth. So that was not pleasant and had to reset before doing that last pull. For the test set, I decided to strip the bar down and put 100lbs plates on it instead. Make it feel more “dead”. Also following the mantra of using the fun things. I got set and tried my best to not be agitated and just pull. I got that first rep and it was ok. And then I just kept doing reps. When I got to 7 reps, I felt I had 10 reps there with something in the tank. I was feeling pretty winded from the set after I was done. But I wasn’t done. I had to drop some weight for a set of 5 reps. I took off a set of 100’s and put on some kilo plates. Again, just having fun here. This felt comfortable and easy. So far, so good. I had more pulling and this would be another test here. I want to get my deadlift from floor feeling comfortable but I need to do more than just a high rep set. So the elevated pulls I was to do a 5rm at the 14” pull height. I figured that I wouldn’t match what I was doing with the 13” pulls in prep since that was the only pulling (not prefatigued from deadlifts) and those had been touch and go style. I mean, I wasn’t clanging and banging but it wasn’t dead stop stuff. But I had a hope for what I could do here. I didn’t use the biggest wheels this time because I didn’t want to worry about possibly falling backwards with a narrow platform. The Jenkins wheels are 14” and I could still use big wheels. Could load the 13” wheels as well and not need to use a jack to lift and add. Initially working up with plate jumps with no straps. I was definitely feeling these in the lower back more than the floor pulls. To be expected really. I was nervous but no as much as working up for regular deadlifts. But I feel there was a higher incidence of it being a problem here with the weight and having to hit 5 reps with the weight I chose. Just having to know I can do this and feel the strain. And that is what I did. Fifth rep here was a little slower but I think I called this perfectly. Next was a drop from that for another set of 5 reps. 10-12.5% drop range. I elected to go about in the middle there. That first rep felt darn heavy but it moved well. These always seem to feel heavy even when I do a lot of reps. Well I’d say this was a successful deadlift session for the almost end of this block of training. This wasn’t all the session but it did feel like I could relax at this point. The rest of the session being the supersets. First up being paused chest supported rows and glute ham raise negatives. I don’t know why but I went with the top weight I did last week that was difficult and said I’m going to do that for all the sets. With the ghr negatives, I was having issues with the bench pad. Maybe I had it up a notch closer this time. I was sitting much higher and my plan to do 8 reps each set for 8 seconds was seeming a bit out there. I think the issue though is that I was much sweatier last week when I started doing them so I was sliding better. As I did these, I got sweatier and I was sliding down more. Almost to the point where it was an inconvenience. These were feeling a little rough on my right ankle at times for some reason. The rows somehow I did them for all the sets. The first set was a bit rough I guess jumping right in. I guess 75lbs is ok but 90lbs is a bit much. I was not thinking these would happen and told myself to get two sets at least and then I can go down in weight. But felt better and only the last set was harder than I’d have liked. I got through the eccentrics for the ghrs too. Last pairing was the seated band leg curls and smith machine planks. Planks I wasn’t changing a thing as these are still tough. My weight and the weight of these puts some strain on the shoulders supporting. Maybe because I have to be active keeping the weight up off the pins. The leg curls I was planning on keeping the same band tension but the first set felt so easy that I decided to go up in tension. I wasn’t too keen about using the gym bands beyond what I had and the mini bands as can be a bit different quality wise. But they had bands that worked to make changes. I had another hiccup with training whereas I set up wrong on the plank and it was too low. Caused a huge spike in intrabdominal pressure and I felt like I was going to pass out so I stopped and reset before going again. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen with a plank before. My hamstrings definitely feeling stronger each session. Same with my legs and glutes. I’m thrilled with how I’m feeling those muscles working and getting stronger. I’m noticing them doing the deadlifts lately. Planks did feel somewhat better as I went. It was a little later than I was expecting it to be so I downed my shake and put stuff away and drove home with stretching done at home.