November 14, 2020 – Week 13, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
NY Barbell Yoke
270x50’ in 6.15 seconds (misload)
420x50’ in 6.76 seconds
520x50’ in 8.25 seconds
570x50’ in 8.46 seconds
620x50’ in 9.01 seconds
 
Sandbag Rows
175x10
 
Stone of Steel Loads (62”, tacky towel)
160x1
203.5x1
248.5x1
292.5x1
338x1
338x1
338x1
338x1
338x1
 
Stretching
 
Comments: I was a bit curious with how today would go. I was mixture of anxious and annoyed. Not with training that is. I did let people that I interacted with today know that I was not in a good mood and trying to not take out on the nearest person. And I know I was annoyed for stupid reasons too. The anxious part was to do with WSM happening right now and reading that quite a few of the athletes got injured. I just can’t take that contest seriously with how they run things. I remember last year I was thinking the same thing with all the foot/ankle related injuries while doing events. This year appeared to be biceps. My annoyance had to do with having to be ready for stuff at a certain time and while I was ready on time, others were not. And I kind of wanted to stew about it. I did my best to distract myself warming up and was perhaps too good with that. It all felt very easy. Hardly any knee issues. But that meant I forgot to film stuff to keep track and make sure I’m doing this knee stuff right. Yoke was a bit different in that I was to do certain weights working up rather than leaving myself to my own devices to warm-up to the top weight. Going with one set at the top weight too. I had been feeling beat the last workout. And honestly, not certain everything is recovered. Plan here was to start at 320lbs and do 100lbs jumps to 520lbs and then 50lbs jump to 620lbs. All for 50’ runs. Ton of leaves so I had to kind of create a barrier of leaves around the course I had. I will say I didn’t have any hamstring twinges in the right side that had worried me last time I did these. Left hamstring still perpetually tight and sore. But forgot to add 50lbs to my first set and I didn’t realize until I was done the run. I was already feeling miffed that it felt slow and heavy and then find out it was 50lbs too light. I debated doing the correct weight but figured what was done was done and take the L and move on to the next weight. Also slow. Same with the next set. I realized after 520lbs I had not been using the arm sleeves to keep my biceps warm. Seem to help me feel better about pulling in the side bars. My chest was sore still from the incline pressing. But thankfully the shoulders were so tight as I’d expect them. Same with the upper back and traps. I felt like I was moving faster for the last two sets (more so the downhill set but got amped for the last set). Not too sure why I was slow. I was trying to increase turnover of my feet but I feel like I was stomping rather than moving forward with the shorter walk cycle. Some of these runs were almost 2 seconds slower than my best with these weights. Top weight run was over a second slower than my best run with 20lbs less. Also slower than my best with 30lbs more. Well, yoke isn’t in the competition but I don’t like the back tracking on progress here. I know this is more to overload my lower body for the farmer’s walk and give things a break that are taxed on that and vice versa. The next part of the workout was adjusted. Less of a separate exercise and more of a warm-up for the stone stuff. Band rows followed by some stretching and then just a set of my light sandbag for rows. Felt ok and good. So stone of steel after that. Plan here was about 10lbs more than last time. I felt this might be a big ask with how tough things felt last time but my hope was that a fresh tacky towel on the heavy stuff and a deload week would do me some good. As I have been doing, older tacky towel on the work up sets and then fresher one for the EMOM. I could definitely feel my hamstrings on some of these. Not like in a painful, sore or bad way. Just that they were working. I forgot to triple extend with my ankles on one of the work up sets. Last work up single felt a little harder than I would’ve liked and when my top weight came out heavier than planned, I was also a tad nervous. It did not help matters when I gripped it off center on the first lift of the EMOM and had to adjust to that haha. Other than that, the lifting felt good and better than last sessions stone lifting. I think I’ll be doing +360lbs before the end of the year for the workout. Took a good bit for me to figure out what to do next before I decided to clean up first and then stretch before eating dinner and then icing my knees.

November 12, 2020 – Week 13, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep
 
Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
bwx25
40x20
 
Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
185x3
225x2
275x1
315x1
365x1
405x1
Added Straps
455x1
495x1
 
Deadlifts off Crash Mats (touch n go, straps)
405x5

Paused Ab Wheel
bwx10

Paused Side Plank Raises
bwx10/10

Stretching
 
Comments: I slept like the dead after the previous workout this week. Maybe because I knew I had off on Wednesday for holiday that I knew I could just sleep. I was asleep for a while and I felt like it was restful sleep. It was rainy all day Wednesday and eventually I went for a walk with an umbrella when it stopped raining sideways. It was dark so had my reflective stuff and flashing lights. I don’t like carrying the umbrella as for whatever reason, I tend to trap heat under it from me just living. Knees were a bit achy today. I had not gotten the chance to ice them the day before. I had hoped doing some soft tissue work would’ve been enough. My iPod speaker setup died at the end of the last workout and then I tried them this time and they broke. I was finally able to figure out the other sound system because I had no other options and that seems to be working better. Some of this new stuff is a work in progress. The older stuff seems to be going well. Today’s workout doesn’t look like much on paper. Start things off with goblet squats. Nothing new there. Rather than the usual two sets, this time going back to something similar to when the COVID stuff started in that warming up with bodyweight squats and then do reps with weight. I was thinking that it would be a bit exhausting but my conditioning appears to be improving from the warm-ups. Trying to make sure that I don’t half ass the reps on these with how many there are and how light it is. The set with weight actually felt pretty good. Felt like a fine tuned machine. Then it was deadlifts. No more bands and platforms for now. Plan now is deadlift rotation. Goal for today was to work up to 85-90% for a single based off how I felt. With how the last week of the band deadlifts had gone, I honestly wasn’t sure where I was as far as pulls. And didn’t want to overdo it as I tend to do that chasing numbers because deadlift is so fucking frustrating. I know it will take a bit to get used to no bands but that is ok. 135lbs felt heavy to start. That was not ok. Deadlifting from the floor with these plates and this bar at my house feels heavier that at a gym. I know that this is tougher than pulling on a deadlift bar. Trying to work on getting that tight feeling in my core and lower body. I guess I’m used to the platform pulls as I felt like I could get tighter doing those and that may be because I had to compress myself to get to the bar so already building tension. The entire time, I felt like breaking the weight off the floor involved more lower back than it should. My lockout feels strong at least. I don’t feel like I needed straps for 455lbs but I wanted it to feel easy to gauge how to continue. Sometimes jumping to straps right away after the tougher pull feels off. 455lbs actually felt pretty good. I felt like I could build some tightness in not just my core. I’m not sure how I feel about 495lbs. It felt hard (not as tough as the previous two band pull workouts minus the deload session) but seemed to move fast. I messaged Mr. Westerling to see if I should stop here or try more. Get a second opinion. The proposed plan had me going for 545lbs and my worry was that that would be too much today. Not that I couldn’t do it but it would be more than 90%. It was definitely not going to be 85% no matter how much I would want it to be. It is my fault for not sending a heads up on the workout for possible advice. I had also forgotten I was to do something after deadlifts besides abdominal work and rather than cool off too much, I decided to call the deadlift at 495lbs and finish up the last bit of deadlift related shenanigans. So the next exercise was kind of new, kind of old. Deadlifting off my crash mats. They are about 6” in height but since high density foam, they sink with the weight added. This could be a way to train a deadlift event that has a deadlift bar without a deadlift bar as the cushioning effect feels a bit like the weight gradually coming off the floor. The plan was just 405lbs for 5, doing the first rep regular and then doing touch n go for the rest of the reps so that they were from the mat height. So like a deadlift followed by rdls. This actual felt heavy in on my body but it was moving easy. The bar feels a bit more stiff compared to the hollow axle when I was doing rdls previously. Despite that, I feel I could’ve done 10 more reps or so so it seems more I just need to get used to this kind of stuff again. Abdominal stuff to end the night. A little different in that the same(ish) exercises but reduced reps. Ab wheel instructions stated slow reps. I took that as pausing for a second at max extension and controlled movement. Same with the side plank raises. Though there, doing fast concentric and slower eccentric. Stretched and ate pot roast, followed by icing my knees.

November 10, 2020 – Week 13, Day 1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes
 
Mobility Prep

 
Axle Clean and Push Presses
28x1
48x1
68x1
88x1
108x1
128x1
148x1
168x1
188x1
208x1
228x1
248x1
 
Axle Push Presses
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
192x2
 
Rack Chins (yoke, straps)
bwx5
bwx16
bwx16
bwx16
 
Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
10’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx20
70’sx20
70’sx15
 
Paused Floor Band Trap 3 Raises/Paused Band External Rotations (right/left)
µbx15/mbx15/15
µbx15/µbx15/15
 
Stretching
 
Comments: Well here is hoping that it was allergies the past few days. I certainly feel better without taking stuff so good sign I think. I had low motivation to do anything at work today. Mostly because I had the next day off and I was thinking about WSM (really has become a love/hate situation haha) and my own training. My training was going to be a bit of a change up. Trying to work the soft tissue stuff in for the hamstrings with either foam rolling or the car buffer and icing knees once a day if I can manage without cutting into my sleep. Warming up has been adjusted quite a bit now. A majority of it is working towards knee health. Backwards treadmill stuff feels good for the knees and is not subject to issues with weather haha. This was followed by a lot of lower leg drills. Obvious weakness in the Anterior Tibialis. Also advised that the platform stuff I’m at the highest planned adjustment so success there. These days have also had things adjusted to reflect the day. So this warm-up had upper body emphasis. The shoulder drill with the dumbbells with no holds feels so much more natural and less jarring. Axle for today. So the previous plan had been push press for 2 and then strict press for 2. This appears to be too much for the knees right now so axle is going to be push press and the other week will be log kind of strict style. I also added tape markings on my axle so that I could keep an even grip with it getting so dark out right now. Getting new lights installed for out back so in the meantime, using a flood light to provide some illumination. It is crazy that not even 6:00PM and it is pitch black outside. It felt warm outside. With doing push press on the axle every other week, weight is going to be picking up quickly. Today the plan was 80% of my PR in training for the top single on weight. Pressing felt nice. I didn’t feel like I had any reps like last time where lockout was hard or I felt off. Consistency with the clean is where I’m running into issues. I’ve learned in the past to commit to a particular style from warm-up to finish (ie, don’t do DOH power cleans if you are going to need to do a continental for your top weight). I’m doing cleans from hang for the continental. At the start, I can get light enough weight up to the flip point with no effort but then I hit a point where I can’t and I have to do a two bump. It’s hard to make myself do a two bump when the weight is light as I’m trying to make the 2nd pull explosive to get on to my stomach and minimize the time that the under hand arm is in danger. The new belt I’ve noticed has as downside in being thicker and wider than my older belt. It provides fantastic support but it can be trickier to clear for axle and trying to put down a log under control. I had no issues with the belt on at 228lbs. Didn’t need it there but need to get used to it and the breathing changes. For the top weight, I added on my wrist wraps (not super tight) to get used to that feeling again. I haven’t worn them in over 3 months. I ended up missing getting above my belt with 248lbs and ended up having to pull DOH to get it after the miss. Once I got it to my stomach, it was pretty easy and I felt strong. After that was push press from the rack. Same rep and set scheme but lowered percentages. I think this is because of the changes in the pressing and because the increase per month for the top set is more aggressive going forward. I took off a good bit of the support stuff for these. Usually the first set feels rough but didn’t this time. Perhaps dropping the weight from the top set helped. Usually I feel like I get better each set on these. I can’t say that was the case this time. First set felt like my best set. Not to say the other sets were lacking or anything but I didn’t feel like they started out ok or poor and got crisper. Last set I got a little off balance and had to pause a moment before racking it. I might have had shorter rests than usual as I was trying to put stuff away between sets. Into the garage for accessory work. Rack chins again. My right biceps was feeling a bit stressed from the axle stuff. Also could be from the aggressive soft tissue work the night before. Plan was to do 3x16. I think I had my setup on an uneven patch in the garage as the yoke kept on shifting. I didn’t feel like this was stressing the tendons like last time. I could feel a good stretch in my biceps though. Usually the first set doesn’t feel the best. It did this time and I got fatigued as I went. Last set was a tough one to get the reps haha. After that, incline bench press with my dumbbells. Easy warm-ups. Plan for this time around being first two sets for 20 and then 15 for the last set. I kept rests a little shorter than normal. Mostly because I didn’t have as much stuff to put away like I usually do and I had to leave some stuff outside for the end of the workout. First set felt great and was super easy. Felt like a piston. Second set there was obvious fatigue and last set holy crap was that a tough one. My chest felt that stuff. Same with the shoulders and triceps haha. It took a little bit to calm down before I could have enough ROM in my shoulders and arms to get the last item for the session done. Last item was a triset using bands for the external rotators. Had to do these outside as the one required rigging something overhead. First part was doing trap 3 raises while lying on my back. So pulling the bands downward and holding for a second. I tried this with mini bands first but could tell immediately that I wasn’t going to survive a round, let alone two. So went with the micro bands. That was good and challenging. I didn’t realize until I was done that I had scraped my knuckles and had some blood welling up. Now the other part was the external rotations and I was to do the weak side first followed by the strong side. Oops. I guess I had those mixed up or I thought they were. Now I thought I could do the mini bands on these. I was wrong. That first set was way tougher than I thought. I did make sure I got 15 reps but they weren’t great and I had to pause a few times. I realized that I need to do micros for both exercises and switched that out for the second set. The stress of the minis really ate into the recovery on the second set. I’m hoping it is better next time with appropriate band tension. My shoulders felt so tight and stiff after all this. Ate dinner and then stretched, followed by icing my knees, shoulders and elbows.

November 7, 2020 – Week 12, Day 3

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes

 
Mobility Prep
 
Titan Fitness Farmer’s Walk
100x50’ in 5.74 seconds
150x50’ in 6.29 seconds
200x50’ in 7.45 seconds
200x50’ in 6.88 seconds

Sandbag Rows (long ways)
175x8
225x5

Sandbag Loads (62”)
225x1
225x1
225x1
225x1
225x1

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes

Stretching
 
Comments: At this point I’m not sure if it is bad allergies or a minor cold. Really hard to tell at this point. It took me a few hours to get feeling like I could train after being awake. I told myself that even if it was a cold, it made more sense to train today then wait until tomorrow as this was a deloaded session and I’d be able to get 2 days off and with a day off work for Veteran’s Day, I could get in an extra day of sleep and relaxation. It has been hard to tell if I’m feeling better in my joints and muscles since Dayquil has been the only thing that says to be making the symptoms of whatever go away. Left hamstring is still tight.  The 2 minutes of treadmill stuff does feel like a long time but I think it is helping with the knee issues. Again, hard to say since taking Dayquil the past 3 days haha. Rest of the warm-up stuff pretty standard. That will be changing though with the next block of training. Knee health stuff seemed to be pretty good today. Maybe adjust the height in 2 weeks if stuff continues to feel good. Needed to do a little sweeping before doing farmer’s walks today. Not a lot of leaves so able to keep the same 50’ course that I usually do. The reduced training for this week being work up to 200lbs for 2 sets of 50’. So that would be pretty easy with 50lbs jumps. I did a few empty runs to make sure my knees felt fine and to make sure I didn’t feel any hammie issues on the right side like I did with yoke warming up. Seemed to feel good. I felt like I was moving well on these. I noticed I didn’t feel any back aches or pains initially so that was good. I felt like I was getting better at feeling like I had tension before picking things up. So maybe the lower body is recovering somewhat. Despite feeling good, I was apparently moving slower than usual. Weight didn’t feel heavy. Second run was a good bit faster with 200lbs but not a PR for speed. Only consolation from that is that it was faster than my fastest set with this weight back in August but that isn’t saying much. I needed this week to be easy after last week feeling wrecked. Still feeling wrecked in some areas, such as my inner thighs and hips. I got a little bit of relief reading that the handles for USS Nats are going to be 17” pick instead of the proposed 12” pick height so that is a load off. Not that it wouldn’t be too much trouble this far out but I can put all focus on the deadlift and not worry about being too sapped from that to pick up the low handles. On to the sandbag stuff to finish out the day. Sandbag rows to prep for sandbag loads. All reduced weight and volume. 175lbs sandbag was really floppy feeling today but still seemed good. Had some balance issues with the 225lbs bag today on the rows. I forgot I had a fresh nick on my right shin from deadlifts and that started bleeding so I had to tape up my shin before I did the sandbag loads. The loads were going to be easy compared to last time since almost 90lbs lighter. Not exactly getting into the deep lap on these like I would with say 313lbs. My right biceps didn’t really like these today at the start. Literally just throwing the sandbag over. Put everything away and finished up with 2 more minutes of treadmill stuff. Felt better than it did after the previous workout. With the new stuff to be added starting next block, there won’t be a need to do post workout stuff like this. Finished up with a big dinner and stretching and icing. Hopefully I start feeling 100% by Tuesday to start this next training block.

November 5, 2020 – Week 12, Day 2

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes

 
Mobility Prep
 
Goblet Squats to Box (15”)
40x15
40x15
 
Deadlifts
45x10
135x5
185x1
225x1
275x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
315x1
 
Ab Wheel/ Paused Side Plank Raises
bwx10/10/10
bwx10/10/10

2 Minute Treadmill Backwards Pushes 
Stretching
 
Comments: Well some things are better and other things are still how they were before. Hard to gauge as my allergies are acting up again and the only thing that seems to be enough to alleviate the issues is Dayquil.  So a little hard to gauge aches and pains with that haha. I know some things are better as far as mood and dealing with emotional baggage. I forced myself to do some intake and housekeeping (literal and figurative). It didn’t hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would and I’m still standing and not an emotional wreck. But still got things to work on and resolve but I’m working on it and that is ok. This week is last week of the current plan and next several weeks will be different. Sled drag dropped in favor of reverse treadmill pushes. Just using the resistance of the tread and working for 2 minutes. This did ache for my knees at first but felt better as I went. This was tiring to do the whole time haha. I know this is needed as I could feel my tendons behind my knees feeling worked after doing just the sled drag last time. I think that doing the soft tissue work and icing them the day before helped too. The knees felt better doing the other warm-ups too. Goblet squats after that. I don’t really have much to setup since this was going to be a deloaded workout and no bands so I tried to make myself rest a little between sets. I could feel aches in my joints but the movement felt natural. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Didn’t get a lower back pump either so also good. Deadlifting today was going to be easy and simple. Only working up to 315lbs for the 5 singles. Originally this was going to be 515lbs for 3 singles as a possible continuation of the band and platform deadlift program. I was still feeling like that hamstring tightness wasn’t quite there so not sure if they are fully recovered. Maybe not having a hard belt to brace against also made it difficult to really get the abdominal brace to feel right. I also have to remember that usually I don’t feel so awesome when I do a deload workout or need to do a deload workout. I didn’t feel like I needed to take 3 minutes rest but I made myself stick to as close to that as I could. I rushed things a little on one of the pulls and nicked my shin. I kind want 405lbs to feel this easy and move this well. Then I’d know that I was over a 600lbs raw pull again. Last bit for the evening was abdominal work. This was adjusted a bit from before. Previously, it was one and then the other for higher reps. This time, like half the reps and doing them circuit style, running through it twice. On the ab wheel, my lower abdominals felt tight. They have been feeling like that since last week’s heavy deadlift training. I wasn’t sure if it was from the heavy deadlift training or if the elevated platform height for the knee exercises was putting more stress on the hips. Not sure as it can be hard to tell if a change is doing something until several weeks in in my experience. Like when the new shoes were killing my knees and it took several weeks before it popped up to be an issue. But that went away shortly after fixing the issue. Side plank stuff felt about the same. I was a little slower on the second go through but I didn’t feel like my lower abdominals were nearly as tight. Now the training wasn’t exactly over as I had to also finish up with 2 more minute of treadmill stuff. Knees were a tad achier this go around. But it didn’t feel like it was a tough or long. Ate pot roast and stretched before getting ice on the knees and getting to bed somewhat earlier than usual.

November 3, 2020 – Week 12, Day 1

2 Minute Backwards Sled Drag (55lbs)
 
Mobility Prep
 
Lock Big 3
10’sx10/10’sx10/10’sx10
 
12” Log Clean & Push Presses
Kettlebells
15’sx5
Log
92x1
112x1
132x1
152x1
172x1
192x1
212x1
232x1
 
12” Log Push Presses
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x2
 
Bench Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
15’sx15
40’sx10
70’sx20
70’sx15
70’sx15
 
Slingshot Dips
bwx10
bw+25x8
bw+50x5
bw+75x5
bw+100x5
 
Band External Rotations
µbx25/25
 
Stretching
 
Comments: All my joints from the waist down hate me. I was experimenting a little to see how inflammation was with the knee joints and recovery. Trying to see if cutting down on icing would be tolerable. Hard to determine what to listen to as some will say doing too much to reduce inflammation for training will result in decline in hypertrophy and building stronger/tougher joints. Sometimes not icing has seemed to be ok for the knees. Not this time. Probably didn’t help that my hamstrings were so tight and my knees stiff and I had to be chased by my 19mo old nephew (alternating between me chasing him and then him chasing me) while I was visiting my parents. Christ I feel old. Trying to not let this week make me anxious with everything going on in the country. With how beat last week had me, I got a deload week of sorts. Not everything has been reduced but most stuff has. With how my body feels, I’m not complaining as I know I need it. Just wished I didn’t haha. So warm-up adjustment made after so many months (years) in that trying something new. Instead of cardio of 5 minutes, (which has been walking for me since COVID-19 started) plan was 2 minutes of backwards sled drag. I was a little concerned about this. Not because it would be challenging or anything. But more so with where to do it. It is getting dark really soon now with this daylights savings crap. I had practiced and timed just going around my house and that seemed too risky with the uneven ground. I also didn’t want to resort to using the treadmill as it is in one of the unused rooms that I’ve kept closed since July for reasons that I’m not going to air here (if you know, you know). Luckily, it was light enough outside after work and none of my neighbors were parked in the street so I was able to do that with little issue. My knees were hating me on the knee health stuff. They had been so good that last two sessions. I guess I’m going to need to ice them daily if I’m doing this kind of stuff to keep them from complaining. Shoulder drill with the dumbbells seemed to be ok. Best it has felt in a while. It was already really dark by the time I got out to do log pressing. I had to bring out another light source so that I could show up on camera. I made an error in assuming that since it was cooler outside, that I didn’t need to chalk my shirt for clean and press with the grip shirt underneath. Wrong. I guess the shirt I was wearing was too slick. I could feel my right arm having to work to clean the log. My knees were achy and it was throwing me off. Having my right arm (biceps and forearm) feel like they were doing more work than the left side also was not helping. This part of the workout hadn’t been changed. It was still plan to work up to 232lbs with 20lbs jumps. Put on my hard belt (the new one) for the last set. Seems to be ok for cleaning the log. The feeling of the weight shifting on the clean was jarring and I got forward a bit and lost my balance. This belt sticks out a bit more than the other one so I caught the log on my belt trying to follow it down and walk it back to the crash pads. I wasn’t happy about how that went as this should’ve been a smooth lift. On to the rack for the rest of pressing. My right knee was not happy with these today. Weight was reduced from the planned 232lbs for the 5x2 to 185lbs. I seemed to be moving better with the log this time. I messed up on one set by trying to not walk it out like I do with strict pressing but I banged the pins and I had to step forward to catch my balance. Breathing at least seemed better than usual on log from the rack but that could be because I dropped the weight from what I usually do from going from the clean and press to rack work. I wasn’t too happy with how pressing felt. I feel way off the mark of where I was months ago and where I want and need to be. Into the garage where I could actually see stuff haha. Dumbbell rows  on the bench. Easy stuff. Plan of progression this time being 20-15-15. This was another part of the training that wasn’t altered for the deload. No issues with the right biceps. It crossed my mind with how the log clean stuff had gone (it hadn’t been pain but it just felt like work). On to sling shot dips after that. Trying my best to make these feel nice and smooth. This was altered to be working up to 100lbs for just 5 reps. Got a little decompression from the first two sets. It seems just that much is all that is needed at this point. Good to know in case this exercise gets swapped out. I moved through these pretty quick as most of the time spent was getting the weights on the belt and taking them off since this wasn’t the grip hold 45’s that I had. Finished up with the band external rotations. I switched the side I started with to see if that did anything. Hard to say. As I mentioned last time, these are easier when I don’t have incline press right beforehand. Plan was to eat a big dinner and relax as much as I could.

October 31, 2020 – Week 11, Day 3

5 Minute Walk (.25 miles)
 
Mobility Prep
 
NY Barbell Yoke
180x50’ in 5.54 seconds
270x50’ in 5.54 seconds
360x50’ in 6.27 seconds
450x50’ in 6.19 seconds
540x50’ in 7.81 seconds
600x50’ in 8.00 seconds
600x50’ in 8.39 seconds
 
Sandbag Rows
175x8
225x8
 
Stone of Steel Loads (62”, tacky towel)
149x1
194x1
238x1
284x1
326.5x1
326.5x1
326.5x1
326.5x1
326.5x1
 
Stretching
 
Comments: I needed to be doing this training a few hours earlier than I was probably going to do as I had guests arriving and also there was the possibility of me training while people were trick or treating so didn’t want to have kind of foot traffic. Besides, all I really had for “treats” was going to be hand sanitizer and au jus/ranch dry packets. And maybe a few frozen chicken breasts. Lower back and hips were wrecked from the deadlifts. I had made sure I did a lot of soft tissue work the night before. Mr. Westerling sent me a modification for the following week to semi-deload due to how last session went. Can’t say I’m not disappointed that my body couldn’t keep going another week before doing that. But I need to make changes to keep progressing and avoid overtraining and injury. It has gotten cold out but with how much body heat I give off when I’m training, I was pretty warm after just the warm-ups. They felt pretty good today. Kind of surprised how the knee stuff was considering how rough it had been when I started doing them. I had been a little worried it was going to be slick outside since it has been rainy the past few days but it was dry enough that it wasn’t. My garage lights turned on with one flick this time so hurray. Yoke didn’t start out well. I will say that at least my traps and shoulders weren’t as super tight as last time I did these. My hamstrings didn’t want to train today. Doing an empty implement “run” (I say that since I wasn’t even up to half speed) I felt something “shift” in the upper part of my right hamstring. If I had been expecting a hammie to act up, it was the left one since that is the one I tore years ago and it is always tighter. I walked it off but I was concerned that I had messed up. The area was tense but not in pain. I think I tried to compensate the rest of the workout by taking shorter strides but trying to improve the rate of turnover. I was having that issue of having my lower body feeling tight at the beginning with the lighter weights for the pick. I actually restarted on the very first run because I was just not feeling the tension was there. I am noticing that it seems easier to do this when there is more weight resisting me lifting it with just me straining into it. It probably wouldn’t be such an issue if I wasn’t trying to keep track of times for these runs on each set. Stopped worrying about the hamstring after a few sets as the rest of my body was feeling beat up too. My hip flexors were sore and I was thinking about those as I went up in weight. I had thought of doing 25’ runs with 50lbs jumps after my run with 450lbs (which ended up being big improvement in speed) but I figured that to keep things moving and have to deal with less picks that doing another 90lbs jump for 50’ was the best option and then move on to 600lbs for the top two sets. I knew that run was slow compared to what I had done but it wasn’t in the realm of when my knees were killing me and I ended up having to stop months ago. My runs with 600lbs were both slower than I would’ve wanted but faster than what could’ve been with how beat up my lower body was feeling. I did still manage to improve my best time with this weight on this yoke (if by only .05 seconds). I took my time with the clean up so that I could get rehydrated (I had been moving things along and didn’t get any drinks once I started). Sandbag rows stayed the same today. My left knee was really feeling tight getting into position. Definitively didn’t feel as easy as the rows have felt the past two weeks. Heavy deadlifting and heavy yokes will do that I guess. I’m just glad I wasn’t feeling any issues in my lower back and my hamstrings. Especially after the scare at the beginning of the workout. Stone of steel to end the session. I knew this wasn’t going to be a smooth sailing day, regardless of what weight I put in it today. I knew that with my hip flexors being sore, how slow and difficult deadlifts had been earlier in the week and with the hammies acting up that this was going to be a struggle bus. Same as previous sessions, work up to 5-10lbs for 5 singles EMOM style. I went with 10lbs because I knew it would end up less than that with the spacers and adjustments. Going with just a 5lbs would end up less than that anyways. Besides, I kind of wanted to work up to at least 325lbs so that I was doing the lightest of the stones in the stone carry and load series for USS Nats. I could tell that I needed to get a new “old” tacky towel as I could feel it not gripping so good. Maybe it was because it was cooler but that shouldn’t matter too much. Even my newer one wasn’t sticking as well on the picks as I had a little issue with picking up the first lift of the EMOM. Everything was slower compared to last time. I did seem to improve my speed as I went though I was a little short on the load with the fourth lift and had to grab the yoke for it to go over. That made me slow it down on the extension on the last one to ensure I got full extension before loading it. I had decided that if I made it through this workout I was going to soak in a Epsom salt bath to try and get things to calm down and relax.