November 11, 2021 – Week 5, Day 3

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)
lb’sx20/µbx20
lb’sx20/µbx20

12” Log Incline Bench Presses
87x10
102x9
117x8
127x7
137x6
147x5
157x4
167x3
200x13
170x13
170x13
170x13

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
40’sx5
60’sx5
75’sx5
90’sx5
105’sx10 PR+10lbs
85’sx10
85’sx10

Bench Dips (Feet Elevated)
bwx5
bwx5
bw+45x12
bw+45x12
bw+45x23 PR+11 reps

RP Style Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15
10’sx15/10’sx15

Feet Elevated (17”) Push-ups (3-3-0-0 tempo)
bwx16
bwx14

Stretching
 
Comments: Kind of needed the break of a midweek holiday. So much that needed to still be done but I needed a break to recharge and just know that I would have to work my ass off the next day to get most of what I needed to get done at work done. Day off meant I could sleep in a little and workout earlier. Kind of had to workout earlier as I scheduled a dentist appointment in the afternoon and I’d rather not do a late training session with the expectation of a ton work the next day. Joints were a little achy feeling setting things up. Not sure if that was just because earlier than usual for training this session or since not doing as much soft tissue work. Starting point of the session was bands superset. Pec flyes with pull-aparts. First set isn’t bad but the second set of these gets tough. How it has been and apparently how it always will be. I did notice that on the pull-aparts that I felt I had more agency/mobility in the chest. The cue for these has always been to pull apart and try to stretch the chest but I feel like I could actually do that and get a greater stretch. This could also be from doing all those kettlebell push-ups with stretches to open the shoulders up. Next thing being log incline bench presses. I was advised that I could go back to normal eccentrics but to still keep a slight pause on the chest. Pyramid warm-ups and then a max rep set with 200lbs. It felt heavier than I expected it would. I’ve done more in the past but not with this form. These are definitely with better control. Other times it has been kind of a drop press and using that momentum to essentially bounce off the chest. And wearing wrist wraps. That had been during that first training cycle this year and had the pause pressing to fill in the gaps. In any case, I was expecting more with the negatives being normal again but I hit the minimum that I was ok with. This was going to be rough as the plan was to then do 30lbs less for 3 sets of the same reps. So 3x13. I did my best to keep rests around 2 minutes so I’m happy with that at least. From there it was on to dumbbell rows again. Similar to two weeks prior in that work up to max reps with a weight and then do matching rep sets with less weight. Usually no set weight in those circumstances and then the drop is percentage based. This time, top weight was set at 105lbs and then 20lbs off for two down sets. Started heavier on my warm-ups than last week and took smarter jumps I guess. These seemed to go better than last week with how they felt. Seemed to get a little bit better at the rest periods this time around. Bench dips were after that. I’m not sure what happened here. Every session, the first set with bodyweight has felt ridiculously tough compared to how it feels when warmed up. And I’ve been doing 2x10 for a few weeks now as prep to get the blood going and have all the joints warmed up. But this time, I felt raring to go on the first set so I kept it to the minimum reps. No sense wasting going reps on warm-ups. So for today, the plan was 3 sets with 45lbs added, doing 2x12 and then a max rep set. Felt really easy. Had to double check after the max rep set as I was pretty much getting into the 25 rep range here. Change up to the shoulder superset this time around. Seems to be what I’m doing as the first exercise pairing on my Day 1 workouts but slightly different. 3x15 for each and advised to control the weight down. The laterals it indicated to do them “RP” but it didn’t mean “Rest Pause” which is usually how that’s marked. Turns out it was “Renaissance Periodization” and it was to lift the dumbbells above parallel to the ground as that program indicates. The bent over style were also to have slight pauses. With that all taken into consideration, I used the 10lbs dumbbells as I figured this would be very fatiguing. And I was right. These were very tough by the end. Lastly was push-ups. Change up here with them being tempo with my feet elevated. Really wasn’t sure what to expect here. Like most push-up variations I seem to be assigned to do, they feel weird at first, then good, then get extremely hard after like 10 reps. I took a bit longer between sets just to make sure I was good as sometimes I push too hard the first set and leave myself unable to really do much the second set. Finished up with stretching after putting stuff away. Just enough time to make it to the dentist appointment. I fill the time.

November 9, 2021 – Week 5, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Wide Grip Romanian Deadlifts (5 seconds negative, straps, no hard belt)
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
275x3
325x8
325x8
295x13

Safety Squat Bar Zercher Squats

65x5
115x5
155x5
205x10
205x10
205x13

Walking Lunges
bwx15/15
bwx15/15

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (1 second, long holds last rep)
bwx10/10 (15 seconds)
bwx10/10 (10 seconds)
bwx10/10 (10 seconds)

Paused Standing Band Hip Adductions (1 second)/Hanging L-Sits
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
lbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds

Single Leg Safety Squat Bar Seated Calf Raises (0-3-0-3 tempo)
65x3/3
85x18/18
85x17/17

Stretching
  
Comments: Hoping that this workout won’t take as long as last week now that I know a bit about how things are going to play out. Trying to keep focused on work and training. Mobility warm-ups are good. Still have the tendon thing in the left leg. Wide grip rdls with 5 second eccentrics and brief pauses again. Now it was supposed to be normal grip this week and last on these but I misread things and did them wide grip last week. Since this week was based off of those numbers, I stuck to wide grip again. This is the last week of these particular pulls so it works out. Feeling pretty good as far as upper body. Lower body and lower back were certainly feeling fatigue but not bad. Top weight felt decent with reps in the tank but I could tell these were tough by the end. Rep set was with 30lbs less. I had a feeling that I’d be around 15 reps. I chalked up my hands to keep the straps and hands secure. I may need to rephrase as it is grip but it is mostly the upper back and forearms getting fatigued, with the upper back wearing down so that it is more burden on the grip and forearms. Lower body was feeling fatigue as well at this point as well as my ability to keep a brace. I’m actually not 100% certain if I did 13 or 14 reps but will never know as I forgot to record that set. I thought I had when I was applying chalk but I guess not. From there it was on to the zercher squats. This time doing working sets with 205lbs for all of them. 2x10 and then max reps leaving several in the tank. I was advised to adjust the weight if I felt it was too light and I’d do over 15 reps with several in the tank. That wasn’t going to be a problem. The weight may not be heavy but these are lung busters for me and doing several sets with the top weight from last week was taxing. Especially trying to keep to 2 minutes rests. I’m not really in real squat for higher rep shape. It has been mostly 3’s and 5’s. No belt. Controlled movement. Trying to not cheat the movement like I know I can to move a lot of weight. That isn’t the point or intent. This is to work and have quality of movement. Trying to make this more automatic as opposed to being like two actions. Trying really hard to control the bar with my upper body and back to adjust as I sink into the hole to keep from having it rest on my thighs. I was really getting out of breath on these. Kind of fatigued from the reps rather than the weight if that makes sense. Into the streets for lunges. All the lights and caution stuff as per usual. Really needed it with the fall back an hour stuff as it is darker out. These were adjusted to be just two sets but 30 steps total per set as opposed to 24 steps. Makes a difference. Trying to control and lengthen the strides. Getting a little winded from these too. Dang it, thought I was better than this with my conditioning. Into the garage for the copenhagen stuff. I messed up on these. See they were to be 1ct holds and doing 3x12 with a long hold on the last rep of each set (RPE 8, whatever that would be for a hold). I misread it to be 3x10. I still feel that this was enough difficulty and it was for me. Just need to remember to do it right next time. Superset of standing band hip adductions and hanging l-sits again. These weren’t quicker or I should say smoother this time. There was a bit of a break between the supersets last week as I was still adjusting to the shorter period (as I was getting some rest going to the patio and back). Cut down on the rest to a minimum here (none between 1st and 2nd set, maybe 30 seconds for the last set). I increased the band tension for the adductions to a light band. I thought that might have been a bit much but it felt good so I went for it. Last thing for the evening was again the single leg seated calf raises. These weren’t as bad with the changes made as far as a time suck. Tempo inverted but reduced from 5 to 3. I was advised to go heavier and I should be able to with the reduced hold times. I was advised to try an axle in the rack as plates were going to become cumbersome. I figured that the ssb would work great with the padding, the camber and the sides for the leg. Worked great. I started with the left side as I thought that was the weaker side. I may have been wrong. It would appear that my left side for seated work has less endurance but is constant regardless of the weight. The fatigue factor with the 45lbs last week vs the 85lbs this week was about the same. Right side definitely struggling some with the increased weight. But I made it work. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching.

November 8, 2021 – Week 5, Day 1

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
26’sx20/15’sx20
26’sx20/15’sx20

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
160x3
185x3
210x3
210x3
210x8

Barbell Strict Presses w/ Pause at Forehead (2 seconds, beltless)
165x5
165x5
165x5

Paused Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings, 1 second)
bwx5
bw+20x5
bw+45x8
bw+45x8
bw+45x8
bwx8

Feet Up Close Grip Bench Presses
45x10
85x9
125x8
155x7
185x6
215x5
240x8
240x8
225x17 PR+20lbs

Paused Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns (2 seconds)
sbx5/5
sbx5/5
sb+abx15/15
sb+abx15/15

Paused Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds)
bwx20 PR+2 reps
bwx17

Band Triceps Pressdowns/Band Biceps Curls
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20

Stretching
  
Comments: Not enjoying this change in the time. Even darker out when I train now. Upper body felt tight and little off on the left side. Not sure what that is about. Slept too good? I’ll admit I’ve been a little lax with the soft tissue work but I haven’t felt like I needed it the last week so… but whatever. Just hoping that it isn’t something that will keep me from pushing forward. It won’t. Just going to be head stuff that does I feel. A lot of things up in the air with amateur strongman and it is frustrating. I don’t like being so uncertain for so long. Just have to focus on the important things. Or I guess the things that require immediacy. Starting things off with the dumbbell raises for shoulders. As mentioned, not getting any easier. Felt pretty good that first set but felt a ton harder on the second set. Had me thinking that maybe they are fatiguing faster from not doing the soft tissue work. From there on to standing pressing outside in the rack. Still beltless. I was advised to stick to the rest breaks despite having a max rep set after the first two sets. Stuff was feeling really good working up. So easy feeling on these. I stopped at 8 reps on the max rep set as I felt that I was getting more of a standing incline press to get things and that is when the reps get iffy and hard to tell if they will fly up or stall spectacularly. I feel 10 reps was a possibility. My strict pressing has been down a good bit for a while so this was really cool to see. The pause presses after that. Felt better on my core this time. These can be quite tricky as they can feel easy one rep and then the worst thing ever. Very sensitive to bar path and position. Which is probably while I got to do them. Seeing as how 210lbs rockets up. On to the feet elevate pull-ups. Working sets with 45lbs added with holds. 3x8. Not bad but these get tough quick. First set no problem and last set with the weight felt like I’d been fighting off something to keep going. Hopefully I interpreted things right and I was to take a normal rest between the sets for the last one without weight. Close grip with feet up next. Going up a bit but not a ton. Again, it is hard to gauge on these as I seem to be able to rep a ton but could be harder actually going up in weight. Balance just felt slightly off. Maybe I was too far down or something. Left side was the one that seemed to be not balanced. 240lbs felt decently tough. Maybe I was holding back slightly for the rep set. I sometimes subconsciously do that. 225lbs felt like nothing. And despite hitting the rack like three times still did fairly comfortable 17 reps. Butt came up on the last one because I really hit the rack and I just didn’t want to mess with things anymore. I feel I have 20 reps here but the goal is always to be leaving reps in the tank if I can. Single arm lat pulldowns again. Same tension as last time. These can be quite tough. I did do two sets to warm up but with less reps. Just back and forth between sides to see if that worked well enough. Left side does appear stronger but not necessarily less fatiguing. Inside for push-ups. Long holds again. Opening up the shoulders. I wasn’t expecting to get as high as I did seeing as how I did all the reps beforehand and that last weeks other push-up exercise didn’t see an improvement in reps. 20 reps was fairly comfortable. Just stopped there. I had maybe another rep before it got to the same level of difficulty and reps left as I felt on the second set. Bands to finish the evening for the pump set. Just keeping these the same as it would start to get complicated altering these. Ate way too spicy food for dinner and stretched.

November 6, 2021 – Week 4, Day 4

Mobility Prep
 
Seated Leg Curls
60x10
80x10
100x10
120x10
140x15
160x15
180x15

Paused Band TKEs (1 second)
sbx25/25

Lateral Step Downs 
bwx5/5 (12”)
bwx5/5 (12”)
bwx5/5 (16”)
bwx5/5(20”)
bwx10/10(24”)
bwx10/10 (26”)

Paused Safety Squat Bar Squats (2 seconds)
65x3
115x3
165x3
215x3
265x3
315x3
365x8
310x8
310x8

Reverse Band Hack Squats (LB’s)
emptyx5
+50x5
+100x5
+150x5
+200x5
+250x5
+300x10
+300x10
+300x10

Bent Over Barbell Rows
45x5
95x5
145x5
195x5
245x5
295x10
Added Straps

325x10
325x10

Sandbag Carries (turns at 50’)
200x100’
200x100’
250x100’
306x100’ in 19.50 seconds
306x100’ in 19.36 seconds
306x100’ in 19.78 seconds

Quad Fallbacks
bwx12
bwx12

Stretching
  
Comments: Woke up at a reasonable hour today but I still seemed to take my time to get out to go train. I’m not too sure what the delay was. A lot of little kiddos at the gym when I got there. Most of them thankfully were gone before I got to the more serious training in the session. Really only two kids that show up that are not a danger to everyone when they are there haha. Mobility stuff to warm up felt better good. Can’t really use my balance (or lack thereof) to see how things are. No real rhyme or reason to it. Just have to focus on what feels on and off. So starting things off with seated leg curls. Started heavier for the warm-ups and did a bit more. Felt like I had less discomfort in the whatever I aggravated back at the start of this off season training. Started with the same weight as last time but my plan was to do bigger jumps. Last session, this weight had felt like too much to start but then by the end the 10lbs jumps weren’t really doing it. So 20lbs jumps here. Even with that, I think still a little shy of hitting the higher difficulty range on these. Also have to remember that this machine maxes out at 200lbs so this may end up being relegated to a pump warm up. Next was band TKEs. Advised to do a set of 15-25 to get some blood flow. Used the heaviest band tension on these. These were nothing, even with a pause for my left leg and a bit challenging for the right leg (knee discomfort). I feel like for these to really do much for me, I’d need to do good bit more reps or much longer holds. I say this as I feel these don’t really warm up the knees for the next exercise which was the lateral step downs. I was glad the rugrats weren’t here at this point as last time they were and I was doing these, they were kicking exercise balls and hit the box I was on twice. Knees feel like crap at the start on these. I did an extra set of reps for the lowest block as I’m realizing that it’s the knee bend that needs the focus as it is the part that aches when not warmed up and pumped with blood. So the plan for this was again 2x10 with bodyweight. Didn’t have to go crazy or anything on these. I just told myself that if 24” was easy again, I’d try 26” on the second set. And honestly, they felt about the same but did notice that the higher box was slightly more fatiguing. So from there it was on to ssb pause squats. 2 seconds for this week. Work up in triples to a top set of 6-8 (1-2RIR) and then drop down 15% for 2 matching rep sets. Squats are weird for me. I tend to underestimate what I can do sometime sand other times overestimate. It’s one of those exercises you don’t want to miss a rep because you will be crushed. My knees still do get achy but at least they haven’t felt like they are going to explode for weeks now so happy about that. I wasn’t too sure what I was going to get up to here and I felt that if I did 25-45 jumps, I’d undershoot it by a lot or end up fatiguing myself too much and know I’m not going to make the next jump and come up short taking a smaller jump attempting to not go too light on this. I haven’t gone over 320lbs on lower body stuff until this week essentially. I figured I had 350lbs but felt it made more sense to 50lbs jumps. 315lbs felt pretty darn good. So I thought I could do 355lbs. Ended up talking myself up to do 50lbs increase so it was 365lbs. In this case, that worked out for me (and it usually does on squats) as it fit the parameters. Drop down to 310lbs for 2x8. Felt comfortable. On to reverse band hack squats. 3x10 with 300lbs added. 50lbs jumps here as well to warm-up. I may need to play around with how I put the hand towels over the hand holds on the top to keep from having them dig into my back at times. Minor nuisance. I’m getting better at these as I think this was the first week where I felt I could keep the rests to about 2 minutes on these whereas that wasn’t possible before. Bent over rows returned this week. Plan here was to work up to a top set of 8-10 reps (1-2RIR) without straps going up in 5’s and then add weight if needed and put on the straps and do 2x10 with 2-3RIR. For whatever reason, I like doing these with the bumper plates. Not sure why I do. It is always neat to see what I can do on stuff when I don’t have to slow down and hold. I had figured that 275lbs was what I’d be doing here and then 305lbs for the strapped sets. But I felt pretty strong and did 50lbs jumps to 295lbs. And I feel it may have been too easy. I was kind of surprised with the grip seeing as how I was having issues with forearm and upper back fatigue on the paused dumbbell rows and wide grip rdls but I guess that is more of a time under tension thing as that is like twice as long as this set took to do. Now my intent had been to just do 315lbs for the 2x10 as I knew that 325lbs was near my 10rm on these. But I couldn’t math and did it for both sets. Not quite as easy as I’d like for it to be with 2-3RIR but it was certainly 2RIR territory. So the next thing was sandbag carries. 3x100’ with a moderate bag and advised to keep rests 90-120 seconds. Left hamstring was feeling sore and beat. It had been on the rows. I wasn’t sure if it was from the leg thing or just this workout. If it was more than soreness and something felt off, I’d shut it down. I didn’t feel any issues walking with light weight out in front (as I was putting away bumper plates) so the issue if any would be with picking up the sandbags. I wasn’t too sure what I’d be using. I really wanted to use 306lbs. Not a light sandbag but it can feel comfortable when I’m on point. I figured I’d do 200lbs and see. Ugh, that first run with it felt like crap. It felt heavy and I felt slow. My hope here was that I was just not used to it and fatigued from all the other stuff. It was better on a second run but not enough that I was thinking of even doing 306lbs. So 250lbs was my plan. This actually felt really comfortable so I figured, why not try 306lbs? If it sucks, just forget it and do two more runs with 250lbs. Oh, that 306lbs felt good. I was recovering well between sets and really it was only the pick and lap that was slowing down or fatiguing between sets as I felt my stride was getting better each run. Grouping of times were really close. Not all out speed but near top. About 2 seconds off my best time but I’m not concerned about it. I know that it comes back and this was after a lot of heavy leg work. Hell first week back I felt like crap trying to walk with the 100lbs plates putting them away after sled drag and noticed it was really comfortable the next week. I took a bit of chat break with Brian after that as I had just one thing left and it was those quad fallbacks. I knew what to expect I guess as far as having to do a little stretching and letting myself get used to the left leg not liking getting into position initially. Decided I’d stay at the gym to stretch out before driving home.

November 4, 2021 – Week 4, Day 3

Band Pec Flyes/Paused Band Pull-Aparts (3 seconds)
lb’sx20/µbx20
lb’sx20/µbx20

12” Log Incline Bench Presses (3 seconds eccentrics)
87x10
97x9
107x8
117x7
127x6
137x5
147x4
157x3
190x8
190x8
160x8 
Cluster Sets (15-20 seconds rest)
160x4
160x4
160x4
160x4

Paused Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows (3 seconds)
25’sx5
40’sx5
60’sx5
80’sx5
95’sx10
95’sx9
95’sx8/10 kelso shrugs 

Bench Dips (Feet Elevated)
bwx10
bwx10
bw+35x15
bw+35x15
bw+35x15

Leaning Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Paused Band Face Pulls (2 seconds)
27x15/15 – abx15
27x15/15 – abx15
27x21:9/21:9 – abx15 (rest pause 10-15 seconds)

Close Grip Push-ups (3 second negatives)
bw+26x15
bwx17

Stretching
 
Comments: Issues with editing the previous sessions training. Not sure when new computer is coming. Hopefully that will fix things. If not, I’ll be stumped honestly. Wednesday was a nice break to the monotony. Starting point of the session was bands superset. Pec flyes with pull-aparts. First set isn’t bad but the second set of these gets tough. I want to say that these felt the least fatiguing so far. So on to log incline bench presses. Still doing 3 second eccentrics. A little bit different with today. Same working up that I’ve been doing at this point to get that volume in and then working sets with 10lbs more than last week on two heavier sets and then 160lbs again. But the change after that was to do cluster sets with that weight to essentially get 16 reps total. I felt my endurance would be pretty good today after the bands but had some doubts with the working up on the log. Got through those three sets with the 2 minutes or so rest. Would be interesting to see how the clusters went. They were pretty easy. My recovery between the set was good .From there it was on to dumbbell rows again. Same but different. Work up in 5’s to 95lbs for the dumbbells and do three sets of max reps with 2RIR. I’ll admit these were tougher than I expected them to be. But to be fair, I believe I was taking a lot longer rests on these last week with it being a top set and then down sets. The slow tempo (not any set one but controlled) and the holds certainly adds up for the forearms. I went with 2 minutes rests here and I think that did bring down the reps a bit as the expected had been more like 12 reps or so for that first set. Also right lat just feels “off”. No pain or anything but doesn’t seem to be “present”. My proprioception doesn’t match the left side. Movement seems fine and no restrictions. Just “feels” different. Last set I was advised to do 5-10 “kelso shrugs” (or near failure) with the weight. I had to set it down after the rows and then regripped the dumbbells. It has been a long ass time since I’ve done these “shrugs”. Today seemed to be a day of doing little extras to extend the sets at the end of the exercises. Am I for it. Bench dips were after that. Same situation as far as the warming up sets. First set feels a good bit tougher and then the next one easy. Back pack makes these good bit easier to setup. Triceps get fatigued and pumped so lockouts feel hard near the end. But hard to gauge how many reps in reserve really. There isn’t really a point in these where I’m at rest when supporting my entire bodyweight weight to safely chance a rep I guess as well. Leaning side laterals with band face pulls again. Plan here was another small increase on the side laterals and aim for a longer hold time on the face pulls. The added twist to this was on the last set with the laterals. Do a max rep set and then rest pause another set. So was not sure how that was going to go. Left side is definitely the shoulder/side that gives out first on these. I figured that I’d go all in on that side and just match it with the other side. I was kind of surprised that I was able to get so many reps after just 13 second at most rest. This offseason I think has been good for me as I’m noticing less aches and pains. Finishing up with the close grip push-ups with the accentuated eccentrics. Same weights and sets as last time. It was a struggle to match the reps from last week. At least didn’t fall back on any. Have to keep in mind that I did a lot more reps on stuff leading up to these and I probably stuck to stricter rest periods between the sets compared to last time. Put stuff away and ate a tasty Mississippi roast before stretching and getting to bed.

November 2, 2021 – Week 4, Day 2

Mobility Prep

Wide Grip Romanian Deadlifts (5 seconds negative, straps, no hard belt)
45x5
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x3
265x3
315x12
275x12
275x12

Safety Squat Bar Zercher Squats
65x5
115x5
155x12
180x12
205x12

Walking Lunges
bwx12/12
bwx12/12
bwx12/12

Paused Copenhagen Plank Lifts (3 seconds)
bwx10/10
bwx10/10
bwx10/10

Paused Standing Band Hip Adductions (1 second)/Hanging L-Sits
mmb+µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
mmb+µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds
mmb+µbx15/15 – bwx30 seconds

Single Leg Seated Calf Raises (0-5-0-5 tempo)
45x17/16
45x20/20

Stretching
  
Comments: Stuff feeling stiff and tight. Not bad I guess but just noticing stuff. The left leg thing only bothers me when I do things that bother it so it’s nice that it isn’t like a constant discomfort like some things are. Some changes with this workout. Mobility stuff was good and different. The banded leg curls that I was doing before as part of the workout were moved to be part of this. It was interesting. Wide grip rdls up next. Same 5 second eccentrics and brief pauses. Or so I thought. It appears I was to do these with a normal hand spacing but didn’t realize until it was time to go and didn’t want to make the wrong assumption here. The plan was to work up like previously with 5-3 reps and then do a top set of 10-12 with 2RIR and then drop off a bit to do two matching rep sets. I had 315lbs in my head and when I get a number in my head, it is hard to not go for it. It was challenging to do for the 12 reps. I also had to check what I was wearing last time as far as support to make sure I wasn’t wearing more than I had been (just rehband). The downsets were quite a bit easier even though time under tension pretty similar for the upper body. After that  a new one added. Well I guess new for this year’s trainings. Zercher squats. Advised to use whatever bar I wanted and do work up to 3x12 with increasing weight. No belt. Controlled movement. I figured I’d be doing 200lbs minimum on these but warming up these felt like they were going to a lot more taxing than expected. Considering I was to leave plenty of reps in the tank and the movement wasn’t as fresh for me, I went on the lower end to insure I didn’t make mistakes and had quality movement here. It’s a strange movement. I prefer the ssb on these for comfort and stability. The levers I have do make these a bit awkward as I can rest the bar on my thighs fully above parallel and I’ve done these where I’ve used my thighs supporting it to get into a better advantage point for the lift (like a stone) but I know that that isn’t the intent on these so I had to be more conscious of movement so that I didn’t end up doing that. Left knee was a little achy on these. These are a deeper squat I think compared to what I’ve been doing with the ssb and maybe the hack squats to an extent. All angles. Into the streets for lunges. All the lights and caution stuff. I changed up the positions to see if that worked better. It didn’t as far as making it easy to view. It is just too dark outside. I did some mobility stuff before going. I didn’t need to do as much (and it wasn’t a lot before) due to the zercher squats being deep. Knees a bit creaky today but still good and controlled. Into the garage for the copenhagen stuff. Same as last time with the suggestion but I figured I’d do 3 second holds each rep as that felt harder than doing 1-2 and then a long hold at the end. Seemed a bit more consistent to me. The next thing was the previous session’s last thing. Superset of standing band hip adductions and hanging l-sits again. I had the stuff in the garage so the down time between the exercises (going from the garage to the porch and back) was minimized. I used the most band tension I used last time for all three sets this time, rather than go up. Just to see how that went first. My left quad and hip flexor were quite tight so the l-sits were still pretty tough. I don’t feel comfortable in adding weight to my legs yet as it is challenging enough still. Last thing was a time vampire and a new exercise for me. Single leg seated calf raises. Inverted tempo for long counts with the idea being to do 15-20 reps with weight leaving 3RIR. Really had to figure that out without doing the exercise before and with how long the set will take. From past experience on these inverted tempo long sets for calf stuff, it seems I can’t do much weight on them. Bodyweight for one leg and the ssb on my back for both legs has been tough. But the weight is light even added with the seated and point of the lever compared to say a machine. I went with just a 45lbs plate for this session. I’ve never done single leg work for the soleus muscle and it showed. My left leg on calf stuff generally seems to be stronger and have more endurance, despite having atrophy from nerve damage from the disc injury in 2016. My right leg is tighter but looks larger. It appears that the soleus was effected as the left leg is behind the right. With the amount of numbers to keep track off, I knew I wasn’t getting the right amount of reps done that first set. Could be less than 20, more than 20 or 20. So for the second set, I made sure I got it figured out and got 20 reps. Not that it was too hard to get 20 that first set, I just thought I was at that point with how long it was taking and I kept forgetting the rep I was one (as seen by not getting an even match with both legs). Ate dinner and then stretched. It was pretty late so left the weights out for next session.

November 1, 2021 – Week 4, Day 1

Dumbbell Lateral Raises/Bent Over Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises
26’sx20/15’sx20
26’sx20/15’sx20

Barbell Strict Presses (beltless)
45x5
75x5
105x5
135x3
155x3
175x3
202x5
177x5
177x5

Barbell Strict Presses w/ Pause at Forehead (2 seconds, beltless)
165x5
165x5

Paused Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings, 1 second)
bwx5
bw+20x5
bw+35x12
bw+35x10
bw+35x10/bwx4

Feet Up Close Grip Bench Presses
45x10
75x9
105x8
135x7
165x6
195x5
220x10
220x10
220x10

Paused Half Kneeling Single Arm Band Lat Pulldowns (2 seconds)
sbx10/10
sb+abx15/15
sb+abx15/15

Paused Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds)
bwx18
bwx16

Band Triceps Pressdowns/Band Biceps Curls
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20
sb+mbx20/mmb’s+ µb’sx20

Stretching
  
Comments: The left leg thing still present but I guess not as much. Training this past weekend wasn’t as direct on it so maybe it is getting some rest. Again hard to say as it seems to be when it gets worked up. Right triceps just seems tense most of the time the past few days. Trying to get that to relax but it is hard to. Right side oblique and abdominals feel a little tense too. It has gotten a lot cooler out which is ok for me. Just means I don’t sweat as much. Starting things off with the dumbbell raises for shoulders. Not getting any easier but that’s on me for this one. Definitely felt a little easier I guess but hard to say with how these really get tough on that second set. I was advised to try and push up the weights on the rear delts. I guess more advised that I could as they seem to not take much out of the shoulders for pressing. These both get tough by the second set. From there on to standing pressing outside in the rack. Still beltless. I had to request some clarification on this as it had listed to do 80%x5 and then 70%x2x5 but had to push towards 5RM or so. The intent was to not hit a max on these but to leave some in the tank so stuck to the percentages. I felt that my warm-ups were better served this time around to get ready for the working sets. Just monged these sets. Maybe I took things more serious rather than interpreting it as a daily grind kind of thing for this off season stuff. But I made these look like a joke today. Or maybe my shoulders are finally starting to feel good again. The pause presses after that. Drop a set from last week and add 5lbs. Felt good, didn’t feel like I was in danger of losing any reps here. Just subconsciously thinking about the tight obliques and abs on the right side. Got to stay rigid in the parts that need to be and loose in the parts that need to be. From there on to feet elevate pull-ups. Working sets with 35lbs added with holds and leaving 2RIR on them again. I decided to do a few more reps on the warm-ups to get ready. Three sets again but I was to drop off the back pack and do reps after that. Didn’t expect to feel that good on the first set to get 12 reps. Got 10 the remaining reps. Pretty fatiguing trying to do more reps after the weight was dropped. Close grip with feet up next. I was bit surprised that the weight and reps weren’t that much considering the amount of reps I did last week. Maybe this is to alternate? So close to it just being two plates a side. Warm ups on these just feel so so and then work sets I felt powerful. Again, might be seriousness level or it could be the feeling of the wrist wraps on the work sets (I feel these are still very light weights). For the pressing stuff, I was doing 2 minute rests on the work sets and with it being not out of the realm of possibility, I did that for these too. Single arm lat pulldowns again. Same tension as last time. Only did the one warm-up set as the lighter band did nothing for me last time. These felt hard today. Inside for push-ups. Advised this time to extend the hold in the stretch position to 3-5ct. Of course going for the longer hold. I was kind of surprised that my numbers only dropped that little considering and even more so that the reps didn’t drop much from first and second set. Last item for the evening was bands for the gun show. 3x20 as opposed to 2x30. So I increased the band tension a little so it wasn’t super easy. Finished putting things away before eating dinner and stretching.