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. ere is always a risk with things and who knows how I’d feel as I got to the top weight. I was not feeling. 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.