November 23, 2018 – Week 11, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Safety  Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands

70x9

120x3

Added Bands (+90lbs)

70x3

120x3
160x3
210x3
250x3
300x3
300x3
300x3

Deadlifts
135x1
225x1
315x1
395x1
EMOM (Added Straps)
468x1
468x1
468x1
468x1
468x1

Decline Situps
BWx20
BWx20

Stretching

Comments: I’m definitely beat up. Thursday was about 5hrs ride to Virginia and I went for about a 45 minute walk along country roads. Probably not the wisest thing as it takes about five minutes to walk up the driveway due to the steep incline so that was a bit more exhausting end to a nice walk. Hotel bed didn’t help matters as it made me feel sore, everywhere. My injured disc bugle was acting up, my right oblique and my knees felt like utter crap. But I also didn’t want to sit around and do nothing. So gym it was. Well, more of a health and wellness center that has a safety squat bar. I’ve been there before but last visit was three years ago. Two years ago I was injured and not cleared for long drives (missed Thanksgiving) and last year I was recovering from Nats and the flu. Virtual bike up first. They actually had the same bike as the Y but it was updated. Like PS4/XBOX360 graphics. So much was added to the interface that it threw me off at first. I had one of my worst times ever on it but I chalk that up to the “hike walk” from the day before as my 146bpm was my highest reading. Calves were ok, felt easy. Knees and hips were achy on both goblet squats and rdls. But still better than was expecting with the way they felt this morning and last night. Band rows were good on the back. Felt my right side feeling a bit tight and sore. Modified push-ups were better than the previous session. But still not how I want them to be yet. Plank was easy. Then the biceps stretches. Shoulders were tight. Hip swings I hoped would get some tension out of my lower back and hips. No such luck. Weight time. The plan had been to use my weird cambered squat bar but since it wasn’t at this gym hundreds of miles away, I used the ssb they had. A bit beefier than mine and has handles that I can’t be removed without a wrench (I had one but why bother). My ssb and csb numbers were pretty close in the past so using the same weights wouldn’t be that much of a problem. Yeh, knees and hips didn’t care for this. Also my camera was fogged over from the cold air so I had to use my phone to film at first. I adjusted the position of the “box” and that seemed to fix some of the discomfort. Right side oblique was feeling a certain way so I was watching that. I felt like I was moving so slow on these. Got a little too forward on the last rep of the second working weight set to rerack the bar. Video says I wasn’t slowed down as much as I thought I was. Guess it’s just the perception of time under the tension of bands and weight. It was exhausting. Deadlifts next. I wasn’t looking forward to this. Fairly big jump in weight but reduced singles. Just hoping I don’t embarrass myself missing a lift. This was my first time encountering hexaplates for deadlifts. This was annoying. Thankfully I only had to worry about singles but if it had been reps, woo boy would that have been a pain. Just never felt comfortable once I got more than one plate on the bar. Plate jumps up to 315lbs and then I wasn’t sure where to go from there. Wasn’t really going to be even jumps to the top weight so after some debate, went with 395lbs. Not great. Five singles for the EMOM. None felt great to me. Just some felt less bad than others. Third rep might have been my slowest. Fourth one move quicker but I lost tightness in my lower back a split second and I knew that I needed to not have that happen on the last one. Just glad that was done. Why do deadlifts hate me so? Then abdominal work again. Decline situps. Could feel that stitch in my side just setting up. The bench was too thin so my body kept sliding to the sides. Stuck to having a full deload of the movement at the bottom to get my abs some additional work beyond purely static holding and bracing. This wasn’t terrible. After that, I got to do some deep stretching with some assistance devices for my calves, hip extensors and hip flexors.

November 21, 2018 – Week 11, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Axle Clean and Jerks (one clean)
80x1
100x1
120x1
140x1
160x1
180x1
200x1
220x1
240x1

260x1
280x1
270x5

Pulldowns
105x10
165x8
195x8
225x8
255x8
285x8

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
90x10
140x8
190x8
240’sx8

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Triceps Extensions
40x15
65x15

Stretching

Comments: Feeling beat up. For some reason, I just can’t seem to get to sleep before 12 this week. Just seems to be so much to do. I had been putting off going to the gym to try and recover as much as I could before doing this workout. My arms were still sore despite massage and icing. Day 2 workout was going to be interesting with the holidays so pushed this one to Wednesday. Warmed up on the exercise bike as per usual. 156bpm highest reading this time I think. Not my best time as the pacer beat me today. Told you I was tired. But still a good time compared to how I’ve done. Oh well. Calves were ok. Goblet squats were ok. Ached at the start but felt better by the end. Knees were a little stiff at the start on the RDLs and felt a little better by the end. Band rows felt good. Modified pushups were fine. They don’t hurt my shoulder but I feel an ache (very mild). Plank was easy, not much to say here. Then the biceps stretches. Felt ok here too. Hip swings after that. Nothing really shifted here. Weights followed. Axle again with the 20lbs jumps singles. Platform was in use so I had to start elsewhere and adjust. No major forearm soreness but more than last time (I guess the deep tissue massage had helped). The overhead part of it seemed good though. The cleans felt harder this time, like everything was 20-30lbs heavier. I was getting a little paranoid that I was out of position and was going to mess up and tear a biceps on the clean. I don’t think I was getting them as high as last time. I was also thinking about the weird ab thing and my stomach cramping on some of the heavier lifts gave me pause. 280lbs was a I feel close on an miss with the grip going for the pop to the shoulders. The jerk still seemed good for a lot more. Back down 10lbs for a rep set. I really wanted to match last times reps. The clean felt the best of the heavier lifts of the day but I wasn’t sure I’d get more than a double with how it felt going for that third rep. But I seemed to get back on track with number four. Missed the sixth as it went out in front of me by a hair too much and I wasn’t in a good position to fight it back into the groove for lockout. I briefly thought about recleaning it but I thought better of it and stopped. I haven’t been doing cleans for reps since coming back from injury on log or axle so it wasn’t a good idea just because my pride was hurt from underperforming on the axle. It appears that is going to need a lot of work to get back to top form if it comes up in competition. Most I’ve attempted in training and competition since the reboot is 295lbs. Back work after that. More pulldowns. Much like the chest supported rows, working up to a top set with the plan being to improve on the last session, even if I lose a rep or two off that set. I didn’t want to go too big but I thought 10lbs would be fine. I then thought maybe it was too light as I did my warm-up sets. I was taking 30lbs jumps but the weights felt the same to me. Only thing I noticed different was how much I had to brace myself under the leg supports to keep from being pulled out of the seat. I was really surprised with how easy the whole stack felt (plus a five). But I stuck with the plan of 30lbs jumps and 10lbs over last time. This was substantially tougher. I don’t know it was because it was heavier or if putting a plate on one side of the stack put it off course a little, adding friction, but it felt tough. Like, that first rep had me second guessing the current course of action tough haha. I managed to get all the reps though. May need to modify the pulldowns to have pauses and controlled negatives if my attempts to “balance” the stack doesn’t yield results. That would also probably minimize cable snappage too. Something old and something new for the next exercise. Log incline bench. I’ve done this in the past but it has always been bottoms up style as I’ve never had a way to unrack from the top of something to press and a log is a bit awkward for even experienced people to spot. Well now the gym has a setup (though not ideal) that I can do them. The ROM and seeing as how incline with dumbbells bothering things less than flat, this seemed like a good option. I opted to try the top start style as it always seemed like the initiating off the bottom was the part where things got tricky with the shoulder issue. Doing this way would allow me to adjust the movement path to be more comfortable and have that stretch reflex. Empty log to feel things out and no pain so I added 50lbs to see how that went. This will be a work in progress. Another 50lbs and that seemed ambitious. My ego told me to do another 50lbs to get 240lbs. Hit the rack on I think the third rep but got it back in the groove. Paused a little on the chest for the last rep to get eight. Hopefully this ends up being a good accessory lift for me now. Last time I did this was 8.5 years ago and it was 250lbs for a single after getting 220lbs for a triple haha. Last thing was some more triceps work. I’m kicking myself for missing this last week. This is the second time I’ve overlooked the extra triceps stuff on my workout sheet and it wasn’t on purpose. Seated dumbbell stuff. Used the preacher bench to brace my lower back. Full ROM and nothing too challenging. The problem is that usually I’m good for a bit but then fatigue hits me quick on these after around rep 12. Plan was 10-15 reps. I figured I’ll keep aiming for the higher reps while I can. My wrists were aching holding the dumbbell so I’ll need to work on getting a good hand position as I do these so it isn’t an issue. 40lbs was super easy. 65lbs started out pretty easy but got a lot tougher those last three reps. Home to stretch, recover and eat before sleeping as I had to leave in the morning for Virginia.

November 17, 2018 – Week 10, Day 2

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

16” Cambered Squat Bar Box Squats w/ bands
45x9
95x3
Added Bands (+90lbs)
45x3
95x3
135x3
185x3
225x3
275x3
275x3
275x3

16” Jack Stand Pulls
140x1
230x1
320x1
410x1
Added Straps
500x1
500x1
500x1
500x1
500x1

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx15

16” Box Squats
BWx12

12” Box Touches
BWx10

Band Rows
MMBx10

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx7

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx5/5

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx5/5

Stone of Steel Over Bar (60”)
138x1
182x1
225.5x1
270.5x1
314x0
314x1
342.5x0 (not tight, slid)
342.5x1 PR+6.5lbs
EMOM (kind of)
324x0 (not tight, slid, restarted)
324x0 (restarted)
324x1
324x1
324x1
324x1
324x0
324x1
324x1
324x1

Wide Grip Axle Hang
BWx25.91 seconds

Prowler 2 Drags/Pushes (turf)
85x93’/93’ in 33.33 seconds
175x93’/93’ in 38.15 seconds
265x93’/93’ in 52.71 seconds

Stretching

Comments: This week was something. Snow storm hit Thursday and the city was not prepared for it at all. Forecast had been 1-3” but ended up with 8.3”. Got out of work early but the driving was hazardous and took 2hrs to get home through all the gridlock. Gym was obviously closed by the time I got home and with the amount of shoveling, I knew my back would be beat. Next week was already going to be complicated with holiday traveling out of state. Had to do some shoveling the next morning too as the snow plows didn’t come until after I went to bed. Determination was to combine Day 2 and Day 3 for this week. I did nothing (besides shoveling) on these days off as my right knee was acting up and I didn’t want to risk walking at night and possibly slick conditions. I know how much it effected my raw deadlifting the last time we had a lot of snow the day before training and I had to shovel. This meant for a long Saturday as I wanted to keep using the same equipment I had been using for Day 2 sessions so starting at the Y and then after that part of the workout was done, go to Lancaster for the rest of it. The good news is that using a heat pack on my traps seems to be helping the shoulder thing a bit. So to the Y to start. I figured I’d setup my stuff for box squats and jack stand pulls so that I kind of had those reserved after I finished warming up so that I could get through this part fairly quick. Exercise bike felt good. My heart rate was definitely elevated at 160bpm highest reading but I felt really good and improved slightly on my best time through the course and best distance in 5 minutes. I guess it’s easier in the morning compared to a long day of work. Calves felt really loose and easy. Knees were somewhat achy on goblet squats but ok. They were at least better than the last two sessions ache wise. RDLs I felt ok as well. Band rows were good on the back, just some tightness from the shoveling (it was wet, heavy snow). Modified push-ups again. Still feeling a little off but way better than regular. I’ll keep at this until the end of these next few weeks until my shoulder is feeling better before I chance it. Plank was easy, just a little tightness in the abs. Then the biceps stretches. Not as tight as I was expecting they would be. Hip swings went well, needed these today. First part of the workout was a go. Back to using the camber squat bar. It looks like it will be the bar of choice for the rest of the training for this off season as it is harder than regular bar but is the easiest on my knees of the different specialty bars (and staying away from the manta ray). I wasn’t sure how these would go with the knee and having been away for 6 weeks. Also adding bands which I have never used on a cambered squat bar so that was going to be interesting. Idea for today was to work up to 55% bar weight with 15-20% in bands on top of that. Ended up working out to being light bands each side for about 90lbs of band tension at lockout (a little over). Definitely noticed the bands after getting to 185lbs in bar weight. Quarter, plate, quarter jumps seemed to make the most sense. Video is really something as I think I’m going down slow and then exploding up fast (even though it doesn’t feel like I’m moving fast) yet it looks like I’m barely moving any slower than normal on the eccentric. Working weight was definitely work. After that was again using the jack stands for rack pulls. As I thought, the working weight was for 500lbs for the EMOM. Singles reduced from ten to five though. Did plate jumps in singles. 140lbs and 230lbs felt like nothing. After that, it felt like something. 500lbs just 30lbs more than last time and those had felt pretty good. These felt like I had to put in a bit more effort to get started and were slower off the floor. I was kind of hoping these would be moving faster, showing I had a lot more in the tank for a max pull. Shins were pretty darn bruised by the end from where the bar starts. I was definitely putting in the work this morning as I had to bring out the sweat towel. Got things put away as fast as I could before I left for Lancaster. Commute was pretty good, only a little over 40 minutes to get there. Surprisingly packed considering I was getting there about an hour and a half later than usual. With the length of the drive, I did some movement prep stuff to get warmed up a bit (what I usually do to get ready for events at contests) and then put my warm-ups on at the gym as I set things up to keep from cooling off too much. The event work didn’t look like much on paper but I knew it would take time to get through the first exercise, the stone of steel stuff. Again, plan being to work up to a good single without any support gear and then do an EMOM. I have since located my receiver gloves so I can do them without effecting grip stuff afterwards if needed. My plan was do plate jumps and try for a new PR and then go from there as far as needing grip assistance or not. Form felt off. I kind of knew it would be as far as extension after the box squats against bands and rack pulls. My knees were really stiff so getting to the stone or adjusting in the lap was a bit more forced than I would’ve liked. I didn’t realize how much my form was off until I tried 314lbs. I was trying to pick the thing up like an atlas stone with tacky on it instead of getting down there and using my arms, back and chest like before. Got it easy after I corrected that. The next jump I figured I’d add 30lbs in weight and see what that came out to (as I expected that I could take the 10’s out afterwards for the EMOM weight). It gets tricky when I have four 45’s in it as being too high inside will result in the hemispheres not connecting. It is usually pretty obvious but sometimes the gap is so small that you don’t know until you try lifting it. Talking like a millimeter here. I noticed it as I was rolling it to weigh it but I figured that wouldn’t be a problem. It was. The pick was easy but the loose halves made it impossible for me to exert enough pressure to roll it up to full extension. It would’ve cleared my old training height but not 60”. Almost caused and injury when it came down as it hit the long I was using to block it rolling away and that hit Brian in the shins. I knew what was wrong and corrected it for the next set and I got it with plenty in the tank. I think +360lbs is possible by the end of this offseason prep with no support gear. I decided to go without any assistance for the EMOM. This didn’t start off well. I again, missed that it had a little gap and this caused me to miss the first load. So I had to rearrange and adjust plates again before trying again. Then my arms were too sweaty. So another false start. This was not starting out well. After those two false starts, I finially got things going, getting four in EMOM time. The fifth I just got too sweaty and tried it like three times before admitting defeat and having to wipe myself and stone down. So the fifth one I waited until the next minute came and got it. I then managed to get the last two EMOM style (though I had a miss on the last one initially I still got it). I don’t think I would’ve done it without everyone gathering around and cheering me on honestly. I know my arms will be sore tomorrow. This at least meant that the rest of the session would be over soon. Axle bar hang for time after that. I just had a feeling it was going to be tough today to even match my previous time. Same thoughts as last time. I took my time getting setup but for some reason, I just couldn’t feel like I was locked on to the bar. Especially with the left hand. I just got set as best as I could and hoped for the best. Still shy of my best time but I did manage to slightly improve over the last time I did this so that’s good. Yet another session of 25 seconds plus on the hold. Will I ever get to 30 seconds haha. Prowler after that on the turf. A bit of a change in that it is only three sets as opposed to five. Not bad but looking at the coming weeks, I will be sticking with the weights I pick with the goal to try and improve my time each session. So another thing I’ll have to keep track of haha. As part of combining the sessions, I could’ve dropped this like the weighted plank hold but seeing how it would be tracked going forward, I figured it was best to include to set markers. I had some technical difficulties with my very light first set as the straps kept on pulling out the posts. I managed to get that fixed. I was faster than I was expecting to be. I was going to take a decent rest after that but then my favorite Kendrick Lamar song came on so I figured I’d take advantage of that and did the next set right away. I definitely needing to take a break after that as I knew the last set was going to suck. Not so much the dragging part but the pushing part back. 265lbs would be 40lbs over the most I’ve tried on the turf. I had no doubts on the drag, but the push was going to be something else with it being slightly uphill that way. Legs felt fatigue near the end of the drag and I felt I had a good pace about halfway on the push. I slowed down a lot but I didn’t stop moving so I call that  victory. Legs were swollen by the end and I just laid on the ground for a good while before getting up to put stuff away and stretch before heading home. Planning next week will be tricky.

November 13, 2018 – Week 10, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses
Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
(2 stage 2 second pauses)
20x1 R
20x1 L
40x1 R
40x1 L
60x1 R
60x1 L
80x1 R
80x1 L
100x1 R
100x1 L
120x1 R
120x1 L
Circus Bell
130x1 R
130x1 L
EMOM Circus Bell
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L

Chest Supported Rows
100x15
190x8
280x8
370x8
450x8 PR+10lbs

TNHYUT Presses
50x15
150x8
220x8
280x8
330x8

Stretching

Comments: Went for a walk Monday and had a deep tissue massage. Trying to reduce my stress. Massage therapist thinks that my tight traps are what’s causing the issue(s) with the shoulder(s) as the joint feel stable. I’m thinking the manta ray bar attachment may have exacerbated things (or not let things recover enough). That’s fine since I’m taking a break from that for the next several weeks so it will give a chance to see if that time away helps. As for the “movement” in the side from last week, nothing seems to be out of place or torn. It might have been some fascia. I’m still keeping notes of things. Of course work amped my stress levels back up so back to a deficit again haha. I had to head home as I forgot to put my gym bag in the car before work. Cold front definitely making my joints ache. Exercise bike to warm-up. I was worried my knees would be achy. Heart rate got up to 154 bpm. Ended up being a new best for distance in the time limit and managed to beat the pacer with the shortened head start for the 1.5 miles of the initial course. Calves felt ok, a little better in the ankles. Goblet squats had the aches in the knees again. Otherwise fine. Aching knees on RDLs too but it seemed to be fine on my muscles. Band rows felt good but my back was definitely a little tender on the right side. Not sure if from the heavy work on Sunday or from the massage haha. Best the modified push-ups have felt (in the three sessions I’ve done them). So maybe a good sign. Plank was pretty standard. Abs were a bit tight but I had them worked over pretty good Monday so to be expected. Needed the biceps stretching today. Hip swings loosened up my lower back and hips some as well on both sides. Dumbbell work again. More weight and the sets decreased by four total for the EMOM. Things didn’t start off well. First, I forgot to pack the collars I use for the plateloadable dumbbell to keep the plates secure in my rush when I got home. That meant I had to trust the spring collars up until I got to the circus dumbbell empty weight (130lbs). Plan was to do 20lbs jumps until 120lbs and then 10lbs. This also meant I couldn’t space out the weights to be similar to the big dumbbell. The spring clips held thankfully. One of the things it allowed was for the smaller plates it made me keep them a little higher since the spring clips stuck out a fair amount. Might use them in conjunction with the collars in the future. I was expecting my knees to bother me but they didn’t. Right side didn’t want to do this today. Felt uncomfortable on the shoulder. I went with using a rehband belt for this workout on account of the abdominal thing and having the deep tissue work done the day before. These reps felt ugly, none more so than the second rep. I was able to correct after the first miss but harder than it should’ve been. I had some redemption with the left side. It’s the smoother side but it also felt a bit off. Things seemed to finally click on the last two sets. I realized that I shouldn’t be worrying about the mirror for point of reference. There won’t be on in competition generally and I need to feel the groove that feels best so looking at the object I was pressing seemed to help. Glad that was done. Can’t have that sloppiness as I get into the heavier weights. Rows followed. Right biceps felt a little tight from Sunday workout (lip of keg had banging into a few times). Plan here was light warm-up and then try to improve on my previously set 8rm in weight, even if a rep or two dropped off. I figured I’d just do plate jumps again. I felt ok working up, shorter rests at the start and longer as the plates increased. Second to last set was good but I didn’t feel like I was another 90lbs good. Like 20lbs PR wasn’t there. It would be stupid to overexert when I still got plenty of weeks to build. No reason other than ego to try and hit a number. So I went with 10lbs over last time. I figured I had that for six reps. Chalked up my hands and gave it a shot. First rep tough and then the next five felt ok but then it was a struggle going for the seventh and eighth. Ego still there. I feel in that I will eventually get over 500lbs for reps on the exercise. Next was an interesting one. Avoiding exercises for the chest that irritate the shoulder until it gets to feeling good. Pec flys was what I did last week and that was good. But I need three exercises so this one was from some trial and error, testing out the machines to see what worked. The two I ended up with were essentially the same, standing press into a machine not meant for upper body pressing. The leg press one was too much anterior deltoid so the one using the chest supported row was the winner. I’m dubbing these That’s Not How You Use This (TNHYUT) presses. I wonder how soon this will be copied by other people in the gym. It is an odd one for sure. Doesn’t seem to bother the shoulder and still works the chest, shoulders and triceps. I put it at 50lbs total to warm-up and tested things out from there. It’s a little tricky so the arms are independent of each other and I have to put my bodyweight into to brace. Definitely will be some more trial and error. I was surprised how much I was feeling it in the upper chest. Goal was 3-4 sets of eight. I of course like to test and push things. 280lbs was a little tougher as it was essentially bodyweight for me with my shoes on. Weight wants to knock me around and lockout was a little soft that first rep as I wasn’t expecting it. I could’ve ended there but I wanted to try in excess of bodyweight, something more than what I was repping on bench. Wrist wraps on and I tried 330lbs. Oof, that was something. Much harder to control, literally knocking me back some reps. Maybe 3 reps were soft lockouts but the reps were tough. I did work is what my body is saying. I need more time with this exercise to get it down but it seems like a good one for reps, not so much very heavy weight for low reps. Home to recover, stretch and eat. Maybe sleep. I need so much sleep. Can’t I just sleep until Christmas?